Have you ever slunk out of the boss's office, muttering under your breath, "My boss is nuts!" Well, several studies suggest you may have hit the nail on the head.

Writing for the online HR news source TLNT, Crystal Spraggins digs into this issue of whether many bosses are in truth mentally unstable. She warns of the narcissistic boss, charming at the cocktail party and alluring in the job interview, who then becomes impossible to please later on.

Then she cites research by psychologist Kevin Dutton, who produced a list of the top 10 professions that  "harbor the most psychopaths."

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Here it is.

  1. CEO
  2. Lawyer
  3. Media (TV/Radio)
  4. Salesperson
  5. Surgeon
  6. Journalist
  7. Police officer
  8. Clergy
  9. Chef
  10. Civil servant

Then Spraggins cites a book by Dr. Paul Babiak and Dr. Robert Hare ("Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work") that offers signs to look for to determine if your boss is mentally ill. (By the way, the authors estimate that about 4 percent of managers are nuts. You ask: Then why do I keep getting the crazy ones?)

Their list of psychopath "red flags" includes:

  • inability to form a team
  • inability to share
  • disparate treatment of staff
  • inability to tell the truth
  • inability to be modest
  • inability to accept blame
  • inability to act predictably
  • inability to react calmly
  • inability to act without aggression

The thing to take away from all this is that, as you are slinking away from yet another brow-beating by your boss, you can say to yourself: "It's not about me, it's about my poor deranged boss!"

But you still have to endure the brow-beating.

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Dan Cook

Dan Cook is a journalist and communications consultant based in Portland, OR. During his journalism career he has been a reporter and editor for a variety of media companies, including American Lawyer Media, BusinessWeek, Newhouse Newspapers, Knight-Ridder, Time Inc., and Reuters. He specializes in health care and insurance related coverage for BenefitsPRO.