How common are corporate psychopaths in politics?

There I was sitting in the doctor's waiting room when I spied the article heading on the front cover "HOW TO SPOT A PSYCHOPATH". The article was a reprint; first appearing in The Guardian as an extract/book review of The Psychopath Test by John Ronson. The article discusses Tony, a person who had been convicted and sentenced for seven years for Grievous Bodily Harm (GBH). Tony had decided to fake insanity by copying movie characters such as the one played by Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet. He was successful in getting of jail but was transferred to the Dangerous and Severe Personality Unit at Broadmoor. He soon realised he had made a mistake, particularly when he realised that he had subsequently been classified as a psychopath using The Robert Hare Psychopathy Checklist, (known as PCL-R) which lists 20 personality traits and behaviours that are detected by a structured interview.

1. Glibness/superficial charm
2. Grandiose sense of self-worth
3. Pathological lying
4. Cunning/manipulative
5. Lack of remorse or guilt
6. Shallow affect (genuine emotion is short-lived and egocentric)
7. Callousness; lack of empathy
8. Failure to accept responsibility for his or her own actions
9. Need for stimulation/proneness to boredom
10. Parasitic lifestyle
11. Poor behavioural control
12. Lack of realistic long-term goals
13. Impulsiveness
14. Irresponsibility
15. Juvenile delinquency
16. Early behaviour problems
17. Revocation of conditional release
18. Criminal versatility
19. Promiscuous sexual behaviour
20. Many short-term (marital) relationships

(Perhaps the most famous book on corporate psychopaths is Snakes In Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work by Paul Babiak and Robert D. Hare.)

Professor Antony Maden, the head clinician at Broadmoor, confirmed the decision that Tony was not mentally ill but a psychopath, as he faked insanity this was exactly the kind of deceitful and manipulative act that they do. Tony had so far spent 14 years appealing this decision with repeated tribunal inquiries but all his efforts had come to nought.

Ronson is charmed by Tony and begins to wonder if the only difference between a Broadmoor and Wall Street psychopath is that the latter is born into a stable, rich family. Finally Tony wins an appeal and is to be freed. Madden says that while Tony does have a very high level of some psychopathic traits in that never he takes responsibility, always blames others for events, is a manipulative bully and is always lying, Tony does not set out to do serious harm for its own sake. (Note this opinion does conflict with the evidence of a seven year jail sentence for GBH.)

In their final meeting Tony, true to his psychopathic personality, tells the author that he now fancies a married woman and he is going to manipulate her into arranging a divorce. Then Tony finishes the interview by telling the author that everyone is a bit psychopathic including the author himself. This is so true and as a personal example I "borrowed" the magazine from the waiting room.

There is a growing interest in psychopaths and organisational psychopaths in particular. Clinically, psychopathy is a disorder of the personality, involving a lack of affective empathy and attachment to others, superficial charisma and charm, manipulation, and the violation of social norms. Dr Hervey Cleckley's book The Mask of Sanity (1941) is widely credited with defining the clinical construct of psychopathy with 16 criteria. This work was amplified by Hare when he created the PCL.

The extent to which psychopaths are prevalent in the community is difficult to estimate – typical figures are 1% of the general population, 25% of the prison population and 3.5% of the business world. However I have seen (and agree with) estimates of 15% for the business community. More men than women are diagnosed as psychopaths and men are also disproportionally represented in prisons and managerial positions. Of course, not all male managers are psychopaths, just as all psychopaths do not have successful careers.

Craig Thompson

Perhaps the most likely example of a Corporate Psychopath in politics would be Craig Thompson. Now we have both the 1100 page Fair Work Australia report and Thompson's parliamentary reply we can through the checklist and see if he gets any ticks.

Multiple sexual encounters

Although Thompson denies it, the FWA report lists numerous incidents.

Charming but frequently lie (very flexible with the truth)

One would have to be suspicious of anyone who when a copy of a driving licence appears in brothel claims that his driving licence was stolen for a day. However what is noteworthy in his speech to Parliament is how he distorted the truth. For example he falsely claimed the HSU paid damages in a defamation case. He implied the FWA refused to personally interview him when he refused to meet with the FWA because he said he should not because he was the subject of police investigation. In the same speech he claimed he was getting regular letters of support from Else Skinner, aged 72. She has since admitted she knew Thompson when he was young but had not sent him a letter or communicated with him for more than 25 years.

Guiltlessly blame co-workers and subordinates, never remorseful

Protected by Parliamentary privilege, Thompson blamed a number of individuals for his situation ranging from Marco Balano to Tony Abbott and at the same time made no apology for any of his behaviour.

Good at manipulating people emotionally

When you see men crying in public you always need to be suspicious. Corporate psychopaths are great actors. The television network supposedly causing the tears, Channel 7, has categorically denied the event. What does amaze me is the amount of money (over $100,000) Thompson drew out in cash on the HSU credit card. Using a credit card for legitimate expenses is fine but I have been involved with over 30 businesses and I have never heard of executives drawing cash on a corporate credit card except in a very rare emergency. To say it was drawings is a complete furphy. Public organisations pay salaries. To get away with this one can only guess that Thompson used intimidating behaviour with HSU staff.

Parasitic Lifestyle

Finally many of us wondered by Craig Thomson given that his membership had been revoked by the Labor party still stood for re-election. The reason is simple: money. Changes to parliamentary entitlements in 2011 meant that, even though parliamentarians lost their taxpayer-funded superannuation, their redundancy payments jumped. Under the new scheme, a parliamentarian who "retires involuntarily" (in the delicate jargon of the Remuneration Tribunal) is eligible for a 'resettlement allowance' of three months of their base salary. If they were a member for more than one full term, that allowance is doubled to six months of their base salary. Involuntary retirement is defined as losing an election, or losing party endorsement for reasons other than misconduct and choosing not to re-contest the election. Since Mr Thomson's membership of the Labor party was revoked because of his misconduct, he would not qualify under the second limb of the test. He needed to stand for election again, despite facing certain defeat. Having been defeated, he gets six months of his base salary, which comes to around $95 000. (Thanks to William Shrubb of Wastewatch for this information,)

Peter Slipper

In an article in The Australian (16 October 2013) by Janet Albrechtsen about Peter Slipper would suggest that he also may be a corporate psychopath. "Slippery Pete" as he known is famous for rorting Parliamentary entitlements. For example in the six month period 1 July – 31 December 2009 a an ordinary MP, Slipper racked up $495,333 in expenses which was higher than Wayne Swan (then Federal Treasurer) or Malcom Turnbull (Opposition Leader) for the same period. He was only outdone by the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

He has demonstrated flexibility in his political career. He started as a National MP in 1987, became a Liberal in 1993, an independent in 2011 when offered the Speaker's position and in 2013, Slipper joined the Palmer United Party. However, his membership ceased within seven hours of him joining the party.

Despite the exposure of his sending lewd texts about female genitalia leading to the censorship motion about his continuing as Speaker, Slipper continues to argue that it was a conspiracy that destroyed his reputation and political career. This is a person who has been charged with three counts of "general dishonesty" under the Criminal Code Act by the Australian Federal Police.

There is support in psychology for psychopathy as a dimensional continuum of personality. In this way, we can better understand that certain personality traits, as extreme manifestations, might be understood as clinical disorders, but in other cases, and in the absence of all the traits, may well be identified with organisational leadership qualities. This is core hypothesis of the Humm-Wadsworth model of seven core emotional drives. One of the great strengths of the Humm model is that it helps you recognise the Corporate Psychopath, who a person with a strong Hustler component and a weak Normal component. Hustlers divide the world into winners and losers, consider themselves winners and treat the "losers" as dirt. When this occasionally backfires, they concoct excuses. Hustlers listen to only one radio station WIIFM: What's In It For Me? They will sacrifice the long term (particularly that of other people) for the short term gain of themselves.

Normal are conservative, logical and unemotional in their approach and decision making. They are driven by the desire for order and their first question in life is who else is doing this? They carefully weigh the benefits and costs of any decision and this makes them excellent strategic decision makers. A core value to a high Normal is that the needs of the group or organisation come first.

When looking at leaders a strong Hustler is a useful trait. It makes them charming and flexible. Governing is often a compromise and requires diplomacy. Good Hustlers have the art of getting what they want from someone who doesn't want to give it to them, and having them thank you afterwards. You can think of a number of Politicians who have a lot of Hustler: Hawke, Keating, Clinton, and my favourite, Graham Richardson. But they all had a high degree of Normal.

Is Rudd a Corporate Psychopath?

In another recent article in The Australian (21 August 2013) Janet Albrechtsen suggested that Rudd may be a Corporate Psychopath. She ticked off various boxes:

• Superficial relationships of convenience
• Shameless shifts of "core beliefs"
• Glib and grandiose statements
• Says one thing but acts the opposite.
• Will undertake deception to achieve their aims

Since then a number of commentators have picked up on this theme and it is almost becoming a meme. The first person to publically call Rudd a psychopath was Labor MP Steve Gibbons in 2010. If actions speak louder than words then the deposing of Rudd as PM in 2010 and the number of Labor stalwarts who refuse to be in a cabinet with Rudd or leaving politics indicate a serious personality flaw.

What is very dangerous in a leader is if the Normal is low and the Hustler is high. Unfortunately during the 2013 campaign the evidence developed that this is Rudd's temperament. Each day we saw yet another grandiose gesture. The irony in the 2013 election is that Rudd defined the core issue as who do you trust? Him or Abbott?

People with psychopathic tendencies are common in business and politics, particularly at senior levels. Being commercially realistic, they are often seen as having the ability to make tough decisions, and they don't seem to experience stress. If they have a conscience and are ethically based they will generally be very successful. If not they will be initially successful, but then their weakness of trying to bend the rules brings them undone, particular in times of economic stress.