I'm a failed sociopath...

Sometimes I wish I were a sociopath.

Really, it would make a certain aspects of life in finance a lot easier.

I think there are a lot of sociopaths floating around the office. No, not so many of the murder you in your sleep variety, but quite a few of the garden variety. A bit of googling gives us a working definition:

Antisocial Personality Disorder is chronic, beginning in adolescence and continuing throughout adulthood. There are ten general symptoms:

not learning from experience, no sense of responsibility
inability to form meaningful relationships
inability to control impulses
lack of moral sense
chronically antisocial behavior
no change in behavior after punishment
emotional immaturity
lack of guilt
self-centeredness

While these may generally seem negative as a whole, consider the discussions here on WSO about how to be successful in your internships and first year positions. The correlation is pretty strong!

Now imagine working at the great vampire squid which is Goldman or some other buldge bracket place. How many of these traits will get you ahead and how many will hold you back?

Clearly, sociopaths have something to teach us.

Working from an emotionless core lets you focus on the work and focus on getting ahead. Understanding that you are part of a larger game and that you should really have to be in it for you is a key to getting ahead.

Now, you shouldn't be an arrogant ass in your self-centeredness, I grant you, but you really need to develop a strong belief in yourself to make your career work. I see so many people downplay their strengths and accomplishments (clearly not a problem for some of you monkeys!), when playing up strengths is an important part of the sales job every one of us has to do everyday.

So, watch Dexter, and channel your inner sociopath. It's easier than you think!

I've noted that I'm really a crushing introvert. This would surprise many of my close colleagues who think that I'm outgoing and sociable. I've learned that some of the extrovert traits (e.g. self-salesmanship, making and maintaining social connections, etc...) are crucial to getting ahead. So I maintain an illusion that I'm extroverted. It really works.

Similarly, I channel my inner sociopath and get things done. Sociopaths are excellent playing political games. I understand that, and emulate their techniques when I need to play in that arena. I've had my colleagues call me surprisingly ruthless. I take it for the compliment that it is.

Sociopaths know that it really is about them. I joke to my family that the universe was put together to provide me amusement. I haven't devised an experiment to disprove this yet.

In truth, the sociopathic game is hard for me, harder than the extrovert game, but it is effective. I play it because I owe it to myself and my family to do the best that I can. It gives me the space to be creative and productive.

I know that in my inner core, I am still me. I tell my introverted daughter that it is like T.S. Elliot's The Naming of Cats poem, in which cats have their day to day name, and their fancy name and finally

But above and beyond there's still one name left over,
And that is the name that you never will guess;
The name that no human research can discover—
But THE CAT HIMSELF KNOWS, and will never confess.
When you notice a cat in profound meditation,
The reason, I tell you, is always the same:
His mind is engaged in a rapt contemplation
Of the thought, of the thought, of the thought of his name:
His ineffable effable
Effanineffable
Deep and inscrutable singular Name.

-- T.S. Elliot

So if you see me in rapt contemplation, watch out!