Maureen Rogers over at Pink Slip has a detailed, scary, and inspired post on charismatic assholes. She identified four different kinds of assholes in an earlier post:
- Occasional Offenders
- Credit Grabbers (inverse: Blame Gamers)
- Weaklings
- Charismatic Assholes (CA's)
Maureen makes a compelling case that "CA's" are the worst. I agree that people who have the power to attract and persuade others, but are selfish and mean-spirited beneath the veneer, are extremely dangerous. In fact, although charismatic leaders are generally described in positive terms by management theorists, other behavioral scientists often portray them in darker terms -- especially when they write about political and religious leaders. The best book I've ever read on the dark side is by anthropologist Charles Lindholm, which is simply called Charisma. Unfortunately, it is out of print, but it looks like you can pick up a used copy on Amazon. Lindholm shows how leaders including Hitler, Charles Manson, and Jim Jones used their charisma to do vile things to their followers and enemies.
Check out Maureen's inspired post. There are no murderers, but some damn scary people!
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