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It seems that large (American?) institutions draw psychopaths like moths to a flame. Every large company I've worked for seems to be primarily a vehicle to turn

It seems that large (American?) institutions draw psychopaths like moths to a flame. Every large company I've worked for seems to be primarily a vehicle to turn psychopathy into money, and so I mostly tend to avoid them as much as possible.

AlexandrB 3y ago
It's hardly surprising, the incentives are structured to reward psychopathy. Ideas like "a company's primary goal is to maximize shareholder value" reward winning at any cost. Lofty ideals like ethics only enter the picture if lack thereof hurts the bottom line.
- n4r9 3y ago
  The recent Netflix show "The Consultant" is a really good exploration of this. Christoph Waltz plays brilliant Hannibal Lecter meets Patrick Bateman meets Hans Landa sociopathic executive who embodies the meaningless pursuit of business value. Fantastic send-up of capitalist realism.
throwaway743 3y ago
Tell me about it. Last place I was at I had two managers that matched this perfectly and take the top two as worst people I've ever encountered in my life. Just awful excuses for human beings who robbed myself and others of life. If anyone ever gets a whiff of this in their leadership, gtfo asap. It ain't worth it
nologic01 3y ago
Its inherent to hierarchical organizations. To get to the top of the pyramid you literally have to step on human bodies. You need both very thick skin and little empathy for others as these are traits that will hold you back. Managing people thus becomes managing numbers. This is what MBA programs are for. To filter out those who get distracted by their human nature. Accounting purely on the basis of money fits like a glove because it is a simple, morally agnostic metric. Unless and until we can create productive organizational units that are far less hierarchical we are bound to be selecting and promoting these sociopathic traits. It should be possible. Its all about finding the right designs for coordination, information exchange, less idiotic incentives etc. There is no law that says that organizational structures that are good for conducting clan wars and the like are also the optimal way to build a sophisticated society.

AlexandrB 3y ago

It's hardly surprising, the incentives are structured to reward psychopathy. Ideas like "a company's primary goal is to maximize shareholder value" reward winning at any cost. Lofty ideals like ethics only enter the picture if lack thereof hurts the bottom line.

n4r9 3y ago
The recent Netflix show "The Consultant" is a really good exploration of this. Christoph Waltz plays brilliant Hannibal Lecter meets Patrick Bateman meets Hans Landa sociopathic executive who embodies the meaningless pursuit of business value. Fantastic send-up of capitalist realism.

throwaway743 3y ago

Tell me about it. Last place I was at I had two managers that matched this perfectly and take the top two as worst people I've ever encountered in my life. Just awful excuses for human beings who robbed myself and others of life. If anyone ever gets a whiff of this in their leadership, gtfo asap. It ain't worth it

nologic01 3y ago

Its inherent to hierarchical organizations. To get to the top of the pyramid you literally have to step on human bodies. You need both very thick skin and little empathy for others as these are traits that will hold you back. Managing people thus becomes managing numbers. This is what MBA programs are for. To filter out those who get distracted by their human nature. Accounting purely on the basis of money fits like a glove because it is a simple, morally agnostic metric. Unless and until we can create productive organizational units that are far less hierarchical we are bound to be selecting and promoting these sociopathic traits. It should be possible. Its all about finding the right designs for coordination, information exchange, less idiotic incentives etc. There is no law that says that organizational structures that are good for conducting clan wars and the like are also the optimal way to build a sophisticated society.