"'A lot of white-collar criminals are psychopaths,' said Robert Hare. 'But they flourish because the characteristics that define the disorder are actually valued. When they get caught, what happens? A slap on the wrist, a six-month ban from trading, and don't give us the $100 million back. I've always looked at white-collar crime as being as bad or worse than some of the physically violent crimes that are committed.'
Hare has said that if he couldn't study psychopaths in prisons, the Vancouver Stock Exchange would have been his second choice. Psychopaths can be found in legislatures, hospitals, and used-car lots. Because they have no conscience, they're natural predators. If you didn't have a conscience, you'd be one too.
Psychopaths love chaos and hate rules, so they're comfortable in the fast-moving modern corporation. Dr. Paul Babiak, an industrial-organizational psychologist based near New York City, is in the process of writing a book with Bob Hare called When Psychopaths Go to Work: Cons, Bullies and the Puppetmaster. The subtitle refers to the three broad classes of psychopaths Babiak has encountered in the workplace."
Robert Hercz, Psychopaths Among Us, 2001
"When the person at the top is malignant and self-serving, unethical behavior cascades through the organization and becomes legitimized.
Narcissists change the companies or countries they lead, much like bad money drives out good, and those changes can outlast their own tenure, O’Reilly says. Divergent voices are silenced, flattery and servility are rewarded, and cynicism and apathy corrode any sense of shared purpose in a culture where everyone’s out for themselves. In the extreme, they can destroy the institution itself.
But the gravest danger posed by such leaders is that their malignant influence guides the behavior and expectations of others — and ultimately shapes the culture of the organization or polity in their own image. Studies of businesses show that self-serving, unethical behavior at the top cascades through the organization and becomes legitimized, or at least normalized.
“Once they’re in power, narcissists consolidate their position by firing everyone who challenges them,” O’Reilly says. In their place rise a plague of toadies, opportunists, and enablers equally guided by self-interest and short on scruples. 'So you end up with these individualistic cultures with no teamwork and low integrity. We’ve documented this in a bunch of Silicon Valley tech firms.'”
Lee Simmons, How Narcissistic Leaders Destroy From Within, Stanford Business,
April 30, 2020
"Malignant narcissism goes beyond mere self-centeredness. It goes beyond feeling special. And it goes beyond feeling superior. Malignant narcissists lack the capacity for empathy and shame. They also know this makes them different from others. But they deeply prize these critical differences. And they hold those not like them in utter disdain.
Narcissism becomes particularly 'malignant' (i.e. malevolent, dangerous, harmful, incurable) when it goes beyond mere vanity and excessive self-focus. Malignant narcissists not only see themselves as superior to others but believe in their superiority to the degree that they view others as relatively worthless, expendable, and justifiably exploitable.
This type of narcissism is a defining characteristic of psychopathy/sociopathy and is rooted in an individual’s deficient capacity for empathy. It’s almost impossible for a person with such shallow feelings and such haughtiness to really care about others or to form a conscience with any of the qualities we typically associate with a humane attitude, which is why most researchers and thinkers on the topic of psychopathy think of psychopaths as individuals without a conscience altogether."
George Simon, Malignant Narcissism, December 27, 2013
Stocks sold off on the worse than expected economic data this morning.
But, wonder of wonders, they managed to take back all their losses and rally green into the close.
There were reports of a break in the Ukraine Russia talks, though I doubt anyone in Russia knows or cares what they are talking about.
Kind of like the talks that had supposedly occurred on tariffs with President Xi, which he said were imaginary.
Surely this is a sign of the prosperity and magnificence of Empire, which creates its own reality.
The Dollar bounced up to the top of the 99 handle.
VIX fell back to its 50 day moving average.
Gold and silver fell off a bit.
Ending badly.
Have a pleasant evening.
