神经病才能当好CEO？

    能很好地适应快速变化的环境，能在压力情境中保持冷静的头脑，积极而富有进取心。这样的陈词滥调在大多数的岗位描述中比比皆是，应聘者甚至还会把其中的一两条写入简历。但你或许不知道的是，符合这些条件的“完美应聘者”很有可能是有精神病。

    你没看错，的确是精神病。一般来说，我们会把精神病人和杀人犯、强奸犯或是其他暴力罪犯联系起来，比如约翰•韦恩•加斯、汉尼拔或是泰德•邦迪这种人。但研究心理学家凯文•达顿在《神经病有大智慧》（The Wisdom of Psychopaths）一书中说，精神病可不仅仅就这一个方面。

    “在进化论者所搞的种种恶作剧中，精神病患者看起来具有某些我们梦寐以求的独特的人格特征，”达顿在书中写道。他们看似天生就具有一副好口才以及无以伦比的魅力，在巨大的压力之下，他们的注意力还能像刀锋般犀利（就像在战场上一样），达顿在横跨了几个世纪的研究材料中找出论据，有力地支持了这种观点。

    不仅如此，他还对现代的精神变态患者进行了一系列的调查研究，包括与研究人员、执法人员甚至是精神变态者本人做的许多有意思的访谈。他甚至还亲身参与了其中一项实验，通过电磁波短暂地诱发大脑活动，而这正是精神病患者们大脑的运转方式。

    达顿对精神变态者最清晰的描述来自于一位名叫赫维•M•克里克的美国医生，他于1941年撰写的《理智的面具》（The Mask of Sanity）是有关精神变态患者研究的开山之作。达顿将这种神秘莫测的性格描述为“聪明过人却冷漠无情，寡廉鲜耻且自私自利，肤浅浮夸又毫无愧疚，无忧无虑也不计后果，喜怒无常还不负责任，支配欲强，人际关系淡漠”。

    听起来是不是就像是在描述你的同事？又或者，更像在形容你的老板？

    大多数（并不是全部）具备这些个性特征的人，通常都会成为成功的CEO、外科医生、律师甚至是美国总统。说到总统，达顿提到，2010年，研究人员曾向历任美国总统的传记作家们发放了一份总统个性问卷调查，而分析结果显示：“许多美国总统都表现出了明显的精神变态患者才有的个性特征，其中尤以约翰•F•肯尼迪和比尔•克林顿为甚。”

    2010年，另一名研究人员罗伯特•赫尔向超过200名公司高管发放了一份名为PCL-R的精神变态性格特征检查表，并将调查结果与全体人口做了比较。达顿写道：“不仅企业高管的人数比例突出，而且精神变态几乎就等同于富有魅力……有创意、雄才大略以及极佳的沟通技巧这样的个性特征。”

    Must thrive in a fast-paced environment.Should be cool under pressure. Ambitious go-getters welcome. You find these clichés in most job descriptions these days. You may have even written one of these descriptions, if you're hiring. Little did you know that your ideal candidate might well be a psychopath.

    That's right, a psychopath. We associate the term with murderers, rapists, and other violent criminals. Names like John Wayne Gacy, Hannibal Lecter, and Ted Bundy might come to mind. But there's another side to psychopathy, according to research psychologist Kevin Dutton's The Wisdom of Psychopaths.

    "Psychopaths appear, through some Darwinian practical joke, to possess the very personality characteristics that many of us would die for," Dutton writes. Exceptional persuasiveness, captivating charm, and razor sharp focus under immense pressure (like war zones) seem to come naturally to psychopaths. Dutton presents a battery of research spanning several centuries to back up this assertion.

    He also embarks on an investigative journey into the depths of modern psychopathy, relaying entertaining conversations with researchers, law enforcement agents, and psychopaths themselves. He even participates in an experiment where his brain is electromagnetically induced into functioning -- briefly -- the way a psychopath's normally operates.

    Dutton's clearest description of a psychopath comes from Hervey M. Cleckley, an American physician and author of The Mask of Sanity (1941), a seminal work in the study of psychopathy. Paraphrasing Cleckley, Dutton describes this enigmatic character as "an intelligent person, characterized by a poverty of emotions, the absence of shame, egocentricity, superficial charm, lack of guilt, lack of anxiety, immunity to punishment, unpredictability, irresponsibility, manipulativeness, and a transient interpersonal lifestyle."

    Sound like anyone you work with or, perhaps more likely, work for?

    Many -- but not all -- of these qualities are commonly attributed to successful CEOs, surgeons, lawyers, even U.S. presidents. Speaking of presidents, Dutton refers to a 2010 analysis of personality questionnaires researchers had sent to biographers of every single American commander in chief. The results? "A number of U.S. presidents exhibited distinct psychopathic traits, with John F. Kennedy and Bill Clinton leading the charge," Dutton writes.

    Another researcher, Robert Hare, sent out a psychopathy checklist test called the PCL-R to over 200 executives in 2010 and compared the results to the overall population. "Not only did the business execs come out ahead, but psychopathy was associated with … charisma … creativity, good strategic thinking, and excellent communication skills," writes Dutton.