A Climate of Fear: Stone Cold Psychopaths at Work

Book excerpt: Demolishing the myth espoused by some psychologists that psychopathy and success somehow go together, this book mainly concentrates on psychopaths in the workplace. It tells the evidence based story of what it is like for people who work closely with a corporate psychopath. Those who have worked intimately with a corporate psychopath describe the experience as a living hell. It is a traumatic, career changing and life-changing event. The book gives case study details of psychopaths at work in organizations such as a UK charity, a marketing company and a health service provider, and discusses the terrible aftermath of their abusive, bullying presence and capricious leadership, on individuals, organizations and society.Corporate psychopaths are also associated with events of communal significance, with the book linking them to some of the biggest financial scandals of the last fifty years, including those at Enron, the Mirror Group and the Global Financial Crisis.The book also touches on political psychopaths, noting that from Magna Carta to the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, humanity has sought to keep a tight rein on the death-dealing destructiveness of psychopaths in political leadership. The book notes the likely destructive effects of a political psychopath leader having his finger on the nuclear button.