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“Behind charismatic leaders we usually find embedded psychopaths”
Dr. Iñaki Piñuel, psychologist
Iñaki Piñuel, psychologist, researcher and professor, analyzes in ‘My boss is a psychopath’ the figure of this type of people, who populate the upper echelons of organizations
Dr. Iñaki Piñuel, a psychologist, researcher and professor, says that psychopaths are among us, “camouflaged under a charming appearance and a halo of false efficiency.” From this is born ‘My boss is a psychopath’ (La Esfera de los Libros), a volume in which Piñuel reels off the figure of the psychopath and analyzes his inclusion in the workplace and, above all, in high places.
Explaining that it is not that many bosses are psychopaths, but rather that “almost all psychopaths end up being bosses”, the professional explains throughout the pages of the book the circumstances under which normal people can psychopath, or the keys to be able to ‘detect’ a psychopath in time and not become
his victim.
What do you mean when you talk about the figure of the psychopath?
Psychopaths are people like us in everything except for the fact that they lack moral conscience, and that leads them to have no scruples, to feel no guilt, to have no empathy with the victims of their actions … Therefore, we are talking about people They seem normal but they really are not like us. This means that the victims of these people are unaware that they are in the presence of a different, different human being, who does not function under the same parameters as we do and that, unfortunately, can become highly dangerous for those who become their victims. Psychopaths, outwardly are charming people, they handle a great capacity for simulation, a great capacity to manipulate others and above all an ability to make others do what they want them to do without them noticing.
And what is it that makes such a person?
People who have this condition, called psychopathy, can be like this from birth; the existence of psychopathic children has been identified from an early age. Therefore, there is something that can be innate, but socialization processes have also been identified in evil that can turn normal people into psychopaths, that is, there is something that makes a person who was not a psychopath, especially because of a process of gradually acclimatizing and morally anesthetizing. They get used to practicing depraved, terrible behaviors that gradually nullify the capacity or moral conscience. That is a psychopath, a being who has definitely lost his moral conscience.
So, can anyone have these personality characteristics?
Yes, anyone is potentially threatened by this ‘transformation’ process, the passage to the dark side, but it is not that easy, it is not overnight. They are processes that can last a long time, but what is disturbing is that they are insidious processes, they go very little by little. And what we have discovered is that the great modulator, the great psychopath, is power. Power corrupts, the classics say, but not only that, it also converts and transforms the one who wields it into an unscrupulous person. And these permanent changes are not noticed until they have been consummated.
How can we recognize a person with these characteristics?
It is complicated because normally psychopaths, contrary to what normal people believe, are not people with an evil face, nor are they people who can be identified by an external appearance: their social facade is usually great. Normally, these types of characters are well valued and considered by their environment. Only those who become its direct victims are the ones who, after a long time, because initially they also ignore it, can identify who the character really is, and he manages the ability to put on the mask he wants, which earns him entry into the life of a person.
Let’s not forget that psychopaths destroy their partners, their families, devastate their subordinates or their co-workers. Around psychopaths we meet again and again victims of repetition who were initially unaware that they had a psychopath in front of them. And this is the problem: if we do not identify them in time, and it is very difficult to do so, we are destined to become their victims.
Are there more psychopathic bosses than we think?
Yes, but you have to keep in mind that it is not that bosses are generally psychopaths, but that psychopaths tend to reach levels of power very quickly and, therefore, advance very quickly in the hierarchical line. For this reason, we normally find them at the top of organizations, in the command lines, in the directives, not because all managers are psychopaths, but that, in general, all psychopaths end up being bosses or managers. The problem is that, when they reach that position, they eliminate those who confront or hinder them.
Why are characteristics such as charisma, or having a good presence, often confused with being a good boss?
Charismatic leaders are usually leaders, yes, but leaders who, if they were not, have ended up psychopathic. Precisely what draws so many people behind them is their ability to manipulate the masses, to tell them what they want to hear, to seduce, cajole, and ultimately drag them to disaster. History teaches us many characters who were charismatic leaders who have dragged their nations to disaster. Beneath that charisma, that stupendous appearance, were hidden cruel, depraved and amoral beings. That is the danger, that the charismatic leader is encouraged by the masses, encouraged by them, charming, but very often behind these leaders we find integrated psychopaths.
How does having a psychopathic boss affect a team of workers?
It is terrible because psychopaths, when they set a goal of staying in power whatever, they eliminate all those who pose a threat, either real or potential. And there is the famous issue of workplace bullying, which is the great technology that psychopaths use to eliminate those who for some reason have become threatening to them. The psychopathic boss is specialized in psychologically harassing his subordinates and in eliminating them cleanly, since he destabilizes the victim, making the victim make the necessary mistakes and then cleanly charge her, presenting this dismissal as something necessary and logical.
And in contrast, what characteristics should a good boss have?
He is truly at the service of the needs of the group he leads. It adds added value, gives human resources to the group and feedback on how things are being done to be able to straighten them out if they go wrong. He’s also a motivator, just what a toxic boss lacks. This is demotivating, discouraging, they are people who make you burn out, come home angry, exhausted and afraid of having to go back to work on Monday.
In Spain many toxic bosses turn companies into places of suffering, but this is clandestine. The toxic bosses are characterized in that they turn these companies into psychological cemeteries in which the workers are present but only in body, and not in mind. They try to escape from a place where they are suffering. It is not talked about for fear of what they will say, for being politically correct, for not being the target of the wrath of these psychopaths, but it is something that is being talked about.