Psychopathic Companies - Inherited Organizational Culture

Recently I've become fascinated with personalities and inherited traits. It makes sense considering that I write about people, and with book 3, Lilith and Ammon, I have been writing a lot about parents and children.

The truth is there is a case for the heredity of personality traits. But that isn't my main concern (I already know I'm like my parents). Personality traits are just the beginning - psychological profiles are much more interesting to me. Let's talk about mental illness for a moment.

Mental illness is at least partially hereditary, though generally it doesn't frighten me. Someone who is schizophrenic or depressed doesn't bother me one bit. If the person sees a therapist regularly and continually takes their medications, they can be a contributing member of society. It's relatively easy to spot, and assuming the person has health coverage (a different issue), it is treatable. But what about hereditary traits that aren't treatable? What about psychopaths, for example?

Psychopaths are scary. I don't mean the serial killers out there. Of course those guys are scary. But they haven't successfully integrated into society. I'm talking about the corporate psychos. I'm talking about one of my ex-bosses. These are people who are willing to do whatever it takes to win at the corporate game. So on the one hand, they're charming and wonderful, and on the other they're manipulative and horrible. They victimize whomever in order to win, which means they become C level in a short period of time.

There are some who argue that corporations are psychopaths (which we know is possible, because they're now legally people). If we follow this logic, a company has a set organizational culture which is developed by its founders. Once set, it is nearly impossible to change. If a company is a person, then the founders are effectively parents. Personality traits are hereditary - passed from the genes of parents to children (i.e. companies). Therefore, the founders of these psychopathic companies are psychopaths themselves.

But what about socially responsible companies? What about places like R.E.I.? There are alternatives to the psychopathic company out there. Their parents have good genes and so they do good in the world.

I am glad alternatives to the psycho corps are out there. It gives me hope. It makes me feel like we have options. Unfortunately, we all have to suffer the consequences of the existing psycho corps. I say, don't bail out these crazy companies. Let them fail - and fail they will. Once they do, let's replace them with new creations of good genes. I could stand a few more R.E.I.s and Seventh Generations in the world. In the mean time, I'll watch the other corporations stab each other repeatedly while I drink my coffee at the beach.

I'm not psycho at all... I swear. :-D