I've been wondering for years when someone would get around to this: testing for psychotic behavior in corporate executives. Well, Michael Steinberger tells us that it's finally happening.
Steinberger has a short piece on this subject in the magazine section of The New York Times.
Here's about two-thirds of the entire article:
Ever wonder what leads a lavishly compensated C.E.O. to cheat, steal and lie? Perhaps he's a psychopath, and now there is a test, the B-Scan 360, that can help make that determination. The B-Scan was conceived by Paul Babiak, an industrial psychologist, and Robert Hare, the creator of the standard tool for diagnosing psychopathic features in prison inmates. The B-Scan is the first formalized attempt to uncover similar tendencies in captains of industry, and it speaks to a growing suspicion that psychopaths may be especially adept at scaling the corporate ladder.Indeed, Babiak and Hare could not have chosen a more propitious moment to roll out the B-Scan, which is now in the trial stage. The recent rash of damaging corporate scandals -- combined with legislation making boards far more liable for executive malfeasance -- has given companies good reason to screen current employees more rigorously.
According to Babiak and Hare, white-collar psychopaths are not apt to become serial rapists or murderers. Rather, they are prone to being ''subcriminal'' psychopaths: smooth-talking, energetic individuals who easily charm their way into jobs and promotions but who are also exceedingly manipulative, narcissistic and ruthless. The purpose of the B-Scan is to smoke out these ''snakes in suits.''
[. . .]
[Babiak and Hare] point out that the frenzied nature of modern business -- the constant downsizing, the relentless merging and acquiring -- provides a very fertile environment for havoc-wreaking psychopaths, who thrive on chaos and risk-taking. As Hare put it in one interview, ''If I couldn't study psychopaths in prison, I would go down to the Stock Exchange.''
I don't know that I'd go along with the characterization of such people as "subcriminal" — there's plenty of corporate criminality — but this development is long overdue.
For more information on the B-Scan 360, go to www.b-scan.com or www.corporatepsychopath.com.
