????人們經常說首席執行官和總裁都是心理不正常的自大狂。近期研究發現，一半的美國公司總裁都有某種精神疾病，而且其中許多人（和英國歷任首相一起）患上了“傲慢綜合癥”。

????但可能正是這樣的心理疾病讓這些領導者變得有說服力、魅力十足而且備受矚目。就像凱文?達頓在他的著述《神經病有大智慧》（The Wisdom of Psychopaths，點擊這里查看《財富》對這本書的評論）中所說的那樣：“借助某些進化過程中的惡作劇，精神不正常的人似乎擁有我們中許多人夢寐以求的性格特質。”

????但他們為什么會變成那樣呢？他們領導的國家和企業又是怎樣讓這種不正常心理變得高貴起來了呢？

????最近出版的《我們是暴力物種嗎？》（Som una espècie violenta?）一書著重談到了生理因素對好斗性格和不正常心理的影響，同時探討了這些特質對組織機構和領導者意味著什么。這本書由巴塞羅那大學（University of Barcelona）遺傳學教授大衛?比諾?托倫斯和另外五個人合著；他們六人在巴塞羅那建立了一個跨學科神經系統科學團體，人稱“加泰羅尼亞的六個大腦”（Cervell de Sis）。

????這個團體在這本書中指出，雖然人們下了很大力氣來尋找暴力的社會成因，但暴力事件等社會問題出現的幾率幾乎沒有發生變化。比諾教授說：“我們認為社會因素只是一個方面，生理因素這個方面卻一直沒有人提起。”

????比諾教授認為暴力和好斗存在區別——使用暴力的人知道自己正在傷害別人，而好斗是一種心理。他認為：“好斗是在特定情況下的一種反應。當我們發現自己身處險境時會有三種反應：逃之夭夭、呆若木雞或者奮起自衛。第三種反應就是好斗。如果沒有它，任何物種都無法生存。”

????他還談到，好斗不僅是生存的需要，也是成為領導者的必要條件。“金字塔的靈感就來自人類體系，要到達頂端，就得和別人競爭。這就意味著一定程度的好斗。”

????好斗傾向和創造以及沖動傾向混雜在一起，從而產生了領導者的典型性格。比諾教授指出，已經發現了30多個影響好斗特質的基因。

????但大腦并非一成不變。一旦具有領導者特質，也就是好斗、有創造力和沖動的人坐上了管理位置，權力確實會腐蝕他們——而且是從肉體上腐蝕。

????比諾教授說：“許多領導者都變得適應權力，他們的生理特征也會改變。研究顯示，可以看到他們的神經以及荷爾蒙層面都出現了變化。這些領導者會變得更無情、更冷漠、而且不那么近人情。”

????從某種角度而言，失去同情心對領導者來說未必是件壞事。同情心下降——這是心理不正常的定義之一——可以讓他們在作出決定時不必顧及每一位選民或者員工的感受。

????It is a leadership truism that CEOs and presidents are arrogant psychopaths. Recent studies have found that half of U.S. Presidents experienced some kind of mental illness, with many of them (and U.K. Prime Ministers) suffering from "Hubris syndrome."

????But it may be those illnesses that make these leaders persuasive, charming, and focused in the first place. As author Kevin Dutton writes in his book, The Wisdom of Psychopaths (reviewed here in Fortune), "Psychopaths appear, through some Darwinian practical joke, to possess the very personality characteristics that many of us would die for."

????But how did they get that way, and how can the countries and companies they lead channel their psychopathy to noble ends?

????In their recently published book, titled Som una espècie violenta? (Are We a Violent Species?),David Bueno i Torrens, a professor of genetics at the University of Barcelona, and five other members of the Barcelona-based interdisciplinary neuroscience group known as the "Cervell de Sis" ("Brain of Six" in Catalan) emphasize the role of biology in aggressiveness and psychopathy, and, in the process, offer insight into what these qualities mean to organizations and leaders.

????The group put together the book after noting that, despite all the effort being put into addressing the social causes of violence, incidence rates of social ills like domestic violence were barely budging. "We thought that social aspect was one side of the coin, but lacked the biological aspect," Bueno says.

????Bueno draws a distinction between violence, which implies an understanding that one is inflicting harm on someone else, and aggressiveness, which is an emotion. "Aggressiveness is a response to a particular situation," he says. "When we find ourselves is a dangerous situation, we have three responses: to flee, to freeze, or to defend ourselves. This third is aggressiveness. Without aggressiveness, no species can survive."

????Aggressiveness is not only necessary for survival, he notes, but also to become a leader. "Human systems inspire pyramids, and to get to the top requires competition," he says. "That implies a certain amount of aggressiveness."

????The predisposition to aggressiveness is mixed with that for creativity and impulsiveness -- more than 30 genes that affect aggressiveness have been identified, Buenos says -- thus creating the classic profile of the leader

????But the brain is not static. Once people with a leader's mix of aggressiveness, creativity, and impulsiveness get to the corner office, power actually does corrupt them -- physically.

????"Many leaders adapt to power, and the parameters change. There are studies where one can see changes on the neural-hormonal level. And the leaders get colder, more distant, less empathetic," Bueno says.

????This loss of empathy is not necessarily bad for a leader, to a point. Diminished empathy -- one definition of psychopathy -- allows a person to makes decisions without worrying about every constituent or employee's feelings.