The Wisdom of Psychopaths: What Saints, Spies, and Serial Killers Can Teach Us About Success, by Kevin DuttonThis book is about the overlap between psychopathy and leadership. It's a little bit disturbing, but once you take a look at it, you can see that not only is there a behavioral overlap, there is also a strong media bias: entrepreneurs' success is often attributed to psychopathic features.
Common Features of Psychopaths:
- Grandiose Sense of Self-Worth
- Persuasiveness
- Superficial Charm
- Ruthlessness
Common Features of Entrepreneurs Profiled in Popular Media:
- High Self-Esteem
- Persuasiveness
- Charm
- Ruthlessness
What This Means for Entrepreneurs: Some of the most popular entrepreneurs today are lauded for the four features above - in other words, they are recognized for their similarities with psychopaths.
The media has the power to shape our perception of what it means to be a successful entrepreneur, but the vast majority of successful entrepreneurs* are not actually psychotic, and the four features mentioned above are not how their employees, customers and families would describe them.
Don't feel as if you aren't "entrepreneurial material" if you don't fit the mold of what is currently being promoted as "how to succeed." There are better paths to success.
* Defined by those who succeed long-term in building sustainable enterprises
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