I just read your July cover story ("Is Your Boss a Psychopath?"). What an eye-opening article. Thank you for affirming a belief I've held about a previous nightmarish experience with a boss-who-shall-not-be-named (a la Voldemort). I second-guessed my integrity, but only because the psychopath did not see his behavior as dysfunctional and attempted to have me believe that I was the one with the problem. I intuitively did the coping tips you offered and am relieved to have this article as vindication. Maybe corporate culture will adjust with the knowledge that these psychopaths aren't worth the damage they cause.
Deanne R. Montgomery
Buffalo, New York
It's about time someone was brave enough to come out and expose the dark underside of psychopaths in the workplace. I hope that your article will be the watercooler topic of the month, the year, and the decade. At a time when our leading corporations have unprecedented power to control markets, shape our culture, and define our quality of life, the more corporate values reflect the values of toxic bosses, the more we collectively lose. Until we are able to shape corporate life around human values, the context for work won't bring out the best in human behavior, nor will it produce the kind of creativity that corporations all recognize they need in order to innovate and grow. Bravo to Fast Company and author Alan Deutschman for becoming part of a growing movement of ideas that is beginning to turn the tide in the other direction.
Kathleen Gumbleton
Pasadena, California
Sorry, but your top-10 list of evil bosses couldn't hold a candle to the bosses I and my other female friends have had. Working in Texas (the good-ole-boy, right-to-work state), we have had a boss who made us women call him "God" for three weeks so we could understand "the control and authority he had over our lives." When the HR department of this Fortune 500 company was notified, the man running it told us that it was "just his management style." I've had a boss who called me at 2 a.m. just to make sure I wasn't on a date, so I'd have enough sleep for an important meeting the next day. When I see articles about how the work environment has changed, I recall working in Texas. I think you're kidding yourself to think that times have changed that much, at least not in good-ole-boy states.
Cheri George
Address withheld
I don't know how Alan Deutschman was able to track down and interview my ex-boss for "Is Your Boss a Psychopath?" What? He didn't actually interview her? Then how could he be so dead on about her psychopathic personality? About her egotistical and self-serving interests? No, he interviewed her! I can smell her superficiality and grandiose sense of self worth a mile away! Well, if he didn't, the bottom line is that though my coworkers and I were too scared to report her off-the-wall tactics to HR, she finally met her match, someone who did report her. She was ultimately asked to leave the company.
Dominick Asprea
New York, New York
Your July cover story focused on corporate leaders. But what about national leaders? It's not just people like Stalin who were psychopathic. I'm sure other national leaders would qualify as psychopaths. I bet the same thing too for the narcissistic types. So, how about profiling the president, prime minister, or other politicians and including how they rate on the voter cards?
Arthur Weiss
London, England
Of the 10 bosses (men and women) I've had over the last 13 years, 5 of them scored 16 on your quiz. All 5 of them ended up getting fired along with any secondary henchmen hanging onto their coattails. I was the person in each instance to raise issues about their behavior. Which led, of course, to my seeking new employment to escape while I had any shred of sanity. The fact that these people could get themselves promoted over more qualified (and humane) candidates says a great deal about that organization's top decision-making leadership and their oversight -- and none of it is good.
Val Schnable
Rochester, Michigan
I've been victimized by petty tyrants and conscienceless people my entire working life (at least when I wasn't in the military), so I am glad to see this type of thing coming into the light. It's almost a religious experience to know that others recognize and are able to articulate what I've seen so often.
John Gates
Greater Cleveland, Ohio
My former boss, a female psychopath, was similar to a granola bar (half nuts, the rest flaky). She had the nerve to send me an email entitled "Plan for Sucess" [sic] and copy our VP on it. After I realized that she didn't know what success meant or even how to spell it, I resigned (after six years). Life is too short to let someone who's unhappy with her life try to ruin mine.
Todd Lewis
St. Louis, Missouri
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