Thousands of pages have been written about what makes someone a leader and what makes a leader effective. Prominent thinkers from Seth Godin to Barrack Obama have talked about the importance of “just getting shit done,” while others such as Peter Drucker have stressed not only the importance of doing things but doing things right. Few would argue that one of the essential qualities of a leader is their ability to get things done and mobilize others to do the same.
What is it about the personality of leaders that enables them to get things done? Over the years, much has been written about leadership and psychopathy – what percentage of CEOs display this trait, why so many appear to have aspects of this personality, and whether some of these attributes are helpful in leadership. In their paper, ‘Corporate Psychopathy: Talking the Walk,’ Babiak, Neumann & Hare stated that “…the very skills that make the psychopath so unpleasant (and sometimes abusive) in society can facilitate a career in business even in the face of negative performance ratings.”. This raises the interesting possibility that the right level of well-contained psychopathy, applied in the right situation, may be desirable or even essential for some leadership roles. The challenge is to unlock this leadership potential without the poor performance ratings.
While even psychologists disagree on the classification of psychopathy, all modern definitions include impulsivity, which several researchers, including Tang, Chua, and Wu (2011), found to include attributes such as “decreased sensitivity to negative consequences of behavior, rapid and unplanned reactions to stimuli before complete processing of information, and lack of regard for long-term consequences.” In many businesses needing someone to push hard to achieve the next quarterly results target, this may sound like the very definition of the leader they need.
While impulsivity is one aspect of psychopathy that creates risk for leaders and businesses, higher levels of self-efficacy have also been positively correlated with psychopathy. Self-efficacy indicates confidence in their ability to control their motivation, behavior, and social environment. So, while leaders with high levels of psychopathic traits may impulsively leap into fearful situations, they can feel the fear and do it anyway while managing their energy, actions, and interactions with others.
Of course, psychopathy is not the only ‘dark’ personality associated with attributes displayed by leaders. Other personalities are sometimes openly discussed but are more often whispered in unflattering terms behind closed doors. Psychologists refer to the ‘Dark Triad’ of Psychopathy, Machiavellianism, and Narcissism, and while most of us have probably labeled someone a narcissist or sociopath, we only occasionally discuss terms such as Machiavellian and Borderline personalities.
All these personalities have impulsivity, self-efficacy, and the innate ability to “get stuff done” at their core. While they are often used somewhat interchangeably, they have overlapping constructs, causes, and effects relating to attributes such as impulsivity and relationship dynamics, to name a few. Considering these important differences, at The GreyScale, we believe leadership effectiveness may be better assessed against a ‘Dark Pentagram’ consisting of Borderline, Machiavellian, Narcissism, Psychopathy, and Sociopathy.
Commonly, psychopathy and sociopathy are thought of as similar antisocial personalities, yet they represent two different yet similar types of individuals. Where people with high levels of psychopathy feel nothing and are ice cold regardless of the situation while appearing perfectly charming to others, people with high levels of sociopathy feel the emotions and use strategies to convert the feelings into other emotions. While self-centredness may be indicative of a lack of empathy in psychopathy, there is little research to connect narcissism and psychopathy implicitly.
Machiavellianism as a personality type refers to Niccolo Machiavelli’s philosophical position on politics and the idea that “the end justifies the means” - being effective is more important than being moral. A leader with high Machiavellian personality traits can display impulsivity, a lack of empathy, and narcissism, and it is a label often used when describing psychopathy. Yet, unlike psychopathy, Machiavellianism does not mean a lack of emotion, empathy, or egocentrism. Instead, Machiavellians are strategic in their decision-making and transactional rather than personal in their relationships.
Individuals with high levels of borderline personality can display impulsivity, relationship difficulties, increased levels of risk-taking, and sensation seeking. While these traits may seem similar to psychopathy, they are very different. In leaders with high levels of borderline traits, the sense of self and who they are at their core can fluctuate wildly. This fluctuation brings on intense emotions and reactions to situations, people, and behaviors, which presents as totally different from psychopathy or sociopathy. However, people with borderline personalities definitely “get stuff done.” As people are emotional beings, and strong emotions move people to action, leaders with high levels of borderline traits can move people by amplifying their emotions through emotional contagion. Emotional contagion differs from empathy in that it is about feeling the same as someone else without understanding how they feel.
Additionally, there is a multiplier effect to emotional contagion. People with high borderline personalities have intense feelings that other people pick up on, and the person with borderline personality picks up on the increased emotions of other people, which amplifies their already intense emotions to be passed on to others. So, where the psychopathic personality has intellectual empathy but doesn’t feel others’ emotions and the sociopath converts fear into fun, the borderline personality leverages the team’s susceptibility to emotional contagion.
Leaders with high levels of Borderline, Machiavellian, Narcissistic, Psychopathic, and Sociopathic personality traits all have the innate ability to “get stuff done.” They impulsively leap into fearful situations because they can feel the fear while effectively managing their energy, actions, and interactions with others. While the five personalities share similar traits, the different ways they process fear, drive outcomes, manage relationships, and seek to motivate others require them to find leadership situations and contexts that suit their unique personalities. Leaders with insight into who they are, what they can do, and what they can’t do are more likely to get things done the right way.
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