"The management of this company has contributed far more to its wellbeing and success

[Konehead]

What if your company CEO is a psychopath? What hope for us then?

Interesting segment on ABC science program "Catalyst" regarding corporate psychopaths.
http://www.abc.net.au/catalyst/stori...1.htm#interact
To cut a long story short, these types do some harm to a company by driving "good" staff away. A consultancy group is employed by companies to seek out the corporate psychopaths in their ranks to try to find the cause of the staff exodus. Apparently corporate psychopaths "kiss up and kick down" the chain of command. Sound familiar?

And from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychopath
Hare's items
Main article: Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)

Factor1: Aggressive narcissism

1. Glibness / superficial charm - TICK (he always comes across so smoothly in TV interviews)
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth - TICK (no explanation necessary - one of those "self-evident truths", i.e APA bid)
3. Pathological lying - TICK (another of those "self-evident truths", as anyone in Sydney HM will tell you)
4. Cunning / manipulative - TICK
5. Lack of remorse or guilt TICK
6. Shallow
7. Callous / lack of empathy TICK
8. Failure to accept responsibility for own actions - TICK
9. Promiscuous sexual behavior - I heard a rumour about him and his secretary. True? False?

Factor2: Socially deviant lifestyle

1. Need for stimulation / proneness to boredom
2. Parasitic lifestyle - TICK
3. Poor behavioral control - TICK ("Management have done more for this company than any bloody union")
4. Lack of realistic, long-term goals (HELLO!!! Why don't we destroy the biggest selling point this company has - it's safety record - by destroying it's organic Engineering? Let's save a buck at the risk of losing EVERYTHING when a QF plane smacks in and the cause is found to be shonky overseas maintenance. Where will your shareholders be then, GD?)
5. Impulsivity - TICK
6. Irresponsibility - TICK
7. Juvenile delinquency
8. Early behavior problems
9. Many short-term marital relationships
10. Revocation of conditional release

Traits not correlated with either factor

1. Many short-term marital relationships
2. Promiscuous sexual behavior (hmm...)
3. Criminal versatility (Freight cartel)

And lastly, the documentary "The Corporation" http://www.thecorporation.com/index.cfm?page_id=2
What if, by definition, the company (corporation) you work for is psychopathic?
In a nutshell, this doco lists the six defining criteria of a psychopath and shows how corporations meet all six of the criteria, when only meeting four is enough to clinically diagnose a patient as a psychopath.

I think I'll retreat to my cave, wear a hair shirt and join the Luddites.