Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Managing expectations

For several years I was in a very corporate environment (until I got fired for shirking almost all work assignments).  My bosses would always admonish us to manage our clients' expectations.  By that they meant that we should under-promise so we would look like the hero when we exceeded expectations, or at the very least always meet their expectations.  This was an ok strategy most of the time, particularly when there was some information asymmetry between you and the client that made it difficult for the client to assess for itself the likely outcomes from your type of services.  In situations where the client is not clueless and can actually make an educated guess itself about what you should and shouldn't be able to accomplish, this can be a self-defeating strategy.  If they know from their own experiences that they can expect x quality at y price, when they come into your office and you tell them that you can only provide (x-10) at (y+1000) price, they'll just look elsewhere for services.

As part of my current job, I often give training presentations or workshops, either in-house or for other organizations or conferences.  I just started one in-house presentation yesterday -- a multi-week affair that most people have to attend because it looks good for promotion.  I have done this particular series before and found that most people's complaints revolved around it being too much work.  It also was too much work for me.  This time around I've revamped it to be the sort of thing that people (including me) can just show up to and have an interesting discussion.  But there is always the worry that people will not take it seriously at all, and then things will truly fall apart before the end of the series with possible damage to my reputation from people thinking that I am a "joke" or can otherwise be taken advantage of.  My plan of action (a risky plan of action) is to have the class be easy but to maintain appearances is to be seen as an authority such that they are afraid of my judgment, and also highlight the accomplishments and good ideas of their colleagues to foment peer pressure.  This way they will feel both vertical and horizontal pressure to put forth their better efforts, despite the casual structure of the class.

To establish myself as an authority, I told them that I chose this particular topic because it is something that I didn't know much about but wanted to learn.  I then told a story about someone famous in my field who happens to be in his 80s, and how he does a similar series with an emphasis on technology because that's the only way he can keep up with the latest and still remain relevant.  Still, I really played up my ignorance, turning to particular articles written by experts and saying I don't even know what they're talking about, and could someone get more esoteric?  I then proceeded to lead the discussion by asking insightful questions that I knew would be some people's specialities or at least a handful of people would know because of current events.  I stirred up this almost feeding frenzy of bragging, everyone eager to try to show off their own knowledge and expertise lest they be thought the lone idiot in the seminar, but I never let anyone get too comfortable either.  Finally at the end I take them along a particular polished thought experiment that blew their minds.  The truth is that although I am not an authority in this general subject area, I am in the particular subject matter we discussed this week and will discuss next week.  So now I've basically told them I'm an ignorant dilettante... who can also blow their minds.  If my plan has worked correctly, the thing they should be asking themselves today is -- if I think I'm an idiot at something in which I am so far above them, how good am I at the things that I would actually admit expertise?

Tuesday, January 24, 2012

Psycho-path to success

A reader sent me a CNN feature about psychopaths, which has been sort of a theme recently but this one has an interactive quizz! And clever headline! "Bad Bosses: The Psycho-path to Success." And quotable quotes:

  • "Most of us have an image of psychopathy that's inaccurate -- we think of the killer, a crazy person ... the fact is, psychopathy is a personality disorder that may or may not result in criminal behavior." 
  • "Squint at the symptoms of psychopathy, and in a different light they can appear as simple office politics or entrepreneurial prowess." 
  • "They can't get any one thing done because they're prone to boredom, but that can be easily called 'multitasking.'" 
  • "Risk-taking can be beneficial. A lack of empathy can be beneficial, if you need to make a rational-based decision."
From the reader:

I saw this today and immediately thought of you.  Especially funny is the interactive flash quiz at the top, where it you can answer questions about your boss to find out if he/she is a psychopath. It comes replete with scary pictures, including Christian Bale's "American Psycho" dvd cover. On a more serious note, I find that knowledge of psychopathy, and all it entails, is slowly creeping into society's collective conscience. The word is used conversationally, with increasing accuracy, by the general public, and mentioned increasingly often in movies / on tv. Perhaps you can write a post regarding this phenomenon? Personally, I am dismayed by this pattern, and hope it is just my imagination playing tricks on me, because I have always relished the complete ignorance of psychopathy's very EXISTENCE most people display.

There does seem to be something of a trend, doesn't there? There's the "Occupy Wall Street guy, the remake of American Psycho starring (possibly? please be true, rumor mill) someone famous for acting like a psychopath. Next up should be a book, of course by me. Then a scripted television show, about my life. Then a reality television show, which I will produce. And then cashing out and becoming a life coach. At least that is my five year plan.  Maybe the extra publicity will be bad for the average psychopath, but it's sort of a prisoner's dilemma situation, is it not?

But realistically, will being aware of the existence of psychopaths really change the way people live their lives?  Just because I'm aware of the dangers of automobile travel, does that mean that I do not travel in a car?  At a certain point, all of the information about the baddies (terrorists, murderers, rapists, white collar criminals) and the health risks (cancer, AIDS, accidental death, mental disease) in the world just becomes background noise.  Adding one more thing to worry about will not affect the way most people go about their lives.  I don't think about cancer daily.  Then again, I might if I actually got diagnosed with cancer.

Monday, January 23, 2012

Sociopaths in the news: Megaupload


From a reader:

I was wondering if you followed the arrest of the megaupload.com crew in New Zealand. Kim Schmitz also known as Kim Dotcom, the founder had some pretty interesting reactions, and I think he might be sociopath as well. In addition to having a history of scamming and shady deals of which he was also convicted of in Europe, I personally have dealt with him and was almost scammed by the guy. I dealt with him once many years ago when he tried to organize an exotic car rally, the entry was supposed to be 50,000$ and the pot 1 million. Of course the race never happened and all those who paid didn't get their money back. He managed to collect quite a few deposits and made off with them. The very first time I spoke to him I had my spidey sense tingling me and decided against any further dealings with him. He does exhibit a lot of ASPD traits as observed by myself and as you can probably deduce from the following article, if you please to read it.

So first after the police descended on his mansion with helicopters he hid behind electronic defenses installed in his house, after those were breached by the police he hid inside a "panic room" and the police had to cut through it to get to him. Sounds almost like a caricature.  After that debacle, he goes on to say he has nothing to hide, and was happy to pose for pictures to the press. All of his past dealings and convictions related to him  are scams, accusations of insider trading, stock manipulation, and more scams.

What cemented my opinion about him having ASPD was also the fact that in between him trying to convince me to sign up for his rally, the next subject of conversation was how awesome and rich he was, and every few phrases or so he made a reference to his wealth. He talked about how much money he was making to the point I felt that he was either a very very insecure man, or a complete fool. Now I know better, and I'm pretty sure he is a bona fide sociopath. I've met a lot of people with fragile egos that need to boast and such but this guy... Nothing like him. He was definitely wealthy back then too, no doubt about it, but he was acting like we should be grateful to him for giving us the "amazing opportunity" to participate in his event.

One more thing to note, in spite of his flaws and quirks, he struck me as a very very intelligent man.

Editor's note: I was also persuaded by the aforementioned article's reference to his ties to two germans and one dutchie, who apparently were also megaupload.com leaders.  Central Europeans do not have a good track record for morality, and if they were attracted to Kim Dotcom (also German) enough to want to work under him, that is further proof to me that Dotcom was a charismatic and amoral leader.  Or it could be the shared language and culture.  Also from the article:

Possessions taken from Dotcom's Coatesville mansion provided a hint of the accused men's extravagant lifestyles. Eighteen luxury cars worth a combined $6m were taken from the site, including a 2008 Rolls-Royce Phantom Drop Head Coupe, with the licence plate GOD, and a 1959 pink Cadillac. Others including Mercedes Benz, a Maserati and a Harley Davidson motorbike with licence plates including POLICE, STONED, GUILTY and MAFIA.
***
Dotcom maintained an extraordinary public profile, funding a huge New Year's Eve fireworks display over Waitemata Harbour in 2010 and commenting publicly on his charitable giving, including to the victims of the Christchurch earthquake and the Starship Foundation in Auckland.
***

In a recent online missive Dotcom wrote about his life in New Zealand, saying how he heard local singer Gin Wigmore on the radio and wanted her to record the "Mega Song".

With a casual mention of how he was "chilling in the studio" with the Black Eyed Peas, he said Wigmore took the offer, came to the studio in Auckland, and nailed the song in three takes.
***
Other material found uploaded [on megaupload.com]
included child pornography and terrorism propaganda videos, according to the indictment. 

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Occupy Wall Street and Psychopaths

A reader sent me this video clip of an OWS crusader who specializes in spreading the good word against psychopaths:


I always feel a little badly for these people. For some reason, whenever people start preaching against the wicked sociopaths that have "probably been with us since humanity evolved," and is "probably where our idea of vampires come from," I feel like they have about the same credibility as the foil hat gang. He actually makes some interesting points about sociopaths taking an ideal and twisting it, whether a religious, economic, or other ideology, to "take in large groups of people," because most people are identified with some sort of ideology.  Interestingly, I don't know if he ever acknowledges that the OWS movement itself was susceptible to this sort of mass manipulation.

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Oxytocin and morality

A reader recommended this TED talk about the role of oxytocin and morality. The talk description:

What drives our desire to behave morally? Neuroeconomist Paul Zak shows why he believes oxytocin (he calls it “the moral molecule”) is responsible for trust, empathy, and other feelings that help build a stable society. 




 Here's what the reader said about it:


It seems relavant that he says about 5% of people do not release oxytocin upon the usual stimuli, and I usually see a predicted psychopathy incidence at around 4% of the population. Also, the background for individuals with this lack of release is similar to that often found of p/s types.


Could the distinction between empaths and sociopaths really as simple as that? Even if it is not, it's interesting to see how much of people's humanity is based on something as simple as a hormone.  
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