More than one-in-five executives in an academic study showed psychopathic traits – 20 times the rate in the general population. Tony McDonough reports.

Most of us at some point will have worked for a boss who was a cold and uncompromising slave-driver – but the chilling truth is you may have been working for a psychopath.

Charming and superficial

A new academic study of 261 corporate professionals in supply chain management found that more than 20% displayed clinically significant levels of psychopathic traits such as insincerity, lack of empathy or remorse, egocentric behaviour and the ability to be both charming and superficial.

Researchers from Bond University in Australia and University of San Diego in the US said the levels of psychopathic traits among the executives in the study was similar to that of the prison population.

The rate in the general population is much lower at around 1%.

Devoid of emotion

Ruthlessness was one of the key personality traits identified with major decisions about business and people taken without a shred of emotion.

One of the researchers who carried out the study, Nathan Brooks, a forensic psychologist at Bond University, said: “Ruthlessness is a big one – they’re very calculated.

“It’s a cold, clinical and calculated approach where they’re able to just look at what is in it for the company.”

Mr Brooks last week presented his findings to an Australian Psychological Society congress. The other researchers on the project were Dr Katarina Fritzon, also at Bond, and Dr Simon Croom of the University of San Diego.

Morality not a factor

He added that the research showed that a number of the executives in the study did not include “moral” judgements in their decision-making process.

However, which psychopathic traits could help people climb the career ladder they could also eventually work against them.

“Long-term it probably brings them undone,” Mr Brooks added.