In short: try to tell it to your boss. But when you are the boss? Tell it to your client(s). This is astonishingly effective!

It works even better when the client him- or herself is a psychopath. „A what…?“, you might ask. Well, finding a psychopath in a leading position is six times more likely than meeting one, say, on the street or in a bar (if you count in the toxic narcissists).

This is not actual news, it’s well known – but who bothers talking about it? Nobody. Because the psychopath also holds the means for sanctions, e.g. to fire you or to make your life a hell lot more terrible (than it already is).

Because, the regular employee (read: the normal guy) suffers already under the psychopathic leader. This is mostly due to the psychopaths two major inabilities: lack of competence in social relations and the utter lack of fear.

…keeps pushing you

The psychopath goes where other people usually see limits or find the decision too hard to make – either because of a huge responsibility or because risks are too high. But the worst thing: for the psychopath, it’s never enough. Never.

The latter is an almost immanent characteristic, because success is a stimulus for the elsewhere emotionally impaired person. Every thrill wears off all too easily and even psychopaths need some sort of meaning in their life.

So they keep on pushing it and the sky is the limit, literally, because in top-level-offices in high-rises the blue is near. Yet, on subsequent levels, everybody else is going crazy: nothing can be soon enough, good enough, profitable enough. More. More. More.

At the same time, they never get caught, because it’s all too much on track of what „the system“ wants. Even the stock holders want these guys to be in charge (incredible!).

System change? Impossible!

So, while you’re at it, you might as well come up with some very basal critique of capitalism, which surely will go with bad credits to your account.

Even if you consider yourself fairly sane and find, it wouldn’t hurt to cut everybody some slack here or there – or even install some aspects of welfare – the amount of psychopathic leadership is so prevalent, there is no escape from the rules these guys made for anybody else.

Don’t worry, you f***ed it up already anyways, because questioning the psychopaths dysfunctional leader capabilities has stirred things up alright. You are choking on the big bone now.

You can try to install a benign economic system and yes, it may even be capitalism but with different, more restricting rules which might lead to a more relaxing sort of economy. Yet, these other guys won’t let you. They have captured it all: the lobbies, the seats and the offices.

See, with your suggestion, everything is at stake, the mere air they breath (endless success), their means of life (thrill and recognition) would be gone if the playground no longer exists.

We could all easily forget about different economic systems or basic debates over globalisation etc. since we could all chill a good deal more with different leaders. But it will never happen. Never.

So, if you want to ruin your business, get rid of the psychopathic leader and you will go down. Because he is the one who keeps pushing you, who makes you never rest and who will fearlessly – in the true sense of the word – go where no-one has gone before.

Keep your job!

This will ruin your health, it has already ruined your private life e.g. hobbies or relationships and it will not help you to improve economically although you’re living in one of the richest (maybe the richest) area of the world. Because, if you would, you had to be as psychopathic as they are.

But it will keep you the job you have – as long as you play along (and nothing else happens, such as Covid).

Happy new year!

Ah, one more thing: If you are one of the rather normal decision makers and/or business leaders who wants to change their company culture and install or improve a healthy work environment: call me.

The others would have never called anyways and/or never were truly interested in actual change.

Links (in German, but nobody wants to read the bad news anyways…):

• Christian Peter Dogs: Manager sind häufig emotionale Krüppel
• Niels Birbaumer: Die erfolgreichen Psychopathen sehen wir in den Chefetagen.