Looking at things from different perspectives it is always illuminating. All this is fine, yet what about when we start pointing out that nowadays what is considered as the most effective leadership (current definition upcoming) scientifically do have psychopath traits (of course at several levels of intensity)?
Increasingly, given the complexities of todays society and business context (complexities that, by the way, are created by all of us, they are not there by nature), you are an effective leader if you can deal with all of this, find solutions and opportunities by acting in a ruthless fashion devoid of emphaty. This is what surfaces from a recent scientific research, and from opinions of so called ‘experts’, featured in a recent coverage by CNN ‘The Business View’ “Does being a psychopath make you more successful?” .
Now, let me express my very own opinion. I do not want to consider myself an expert on leadership (although I have being researching and actively working on the topic across several cultures during the last 25 years and I constantly strive to improve my very own); I want to state this as a person that is trying to bring back to attention some ‘common sense’ (by now certainly not so common).
Defining leadership simply by the ability to get things done, no matter what, it is not only short-term close minded, but even extremely destructive of current resources (any kind of them, including mental and emotional energies). When the principles, the values at the foundations of our actions are so short termed no wonder that at the social, economic and organisational level we end-up in the total chaos we find ourselves in!
Within all of the damages, destructions and chaos generated by this kind of ‘psychopath mentality’ we have now the opportunity to show how a focused on long term, visionary, emphatetic approach (geared towards understanding the real issues that are at stake and that are keep on surfacing if not properly addressed) can improve things on sorts of areas and dimensions.
Leadership is something perceived by many as ‘power’ over others, to many it is a top-down forced approach.
In actuality the real leadership, the one that lasts, solves actual problems, finds and develops actual opportunities for good, it is the one recognised as bottom-up. Is the one that leverages not on power imposition, rather on power recognition bottom-up. Most of all leadership is not a role, it is a state of visionary sense of responsibility and inspiration consistently demonstrated through behaviours.
How many ‘psychopaths’ are able to show this? How many of us, even if not ‘psychopaths’, have the guts to understand and show the real and inspiring (actual problem solving / opportunities finding) leadership we all need?!