Don Draper in Mad Men. Gordon Gecko in Wall Street. Miranda Priestly in The Devil Wears Prada. When we think of success, we often picture rather brutal characters who will happily trample over others’ feelings in the pursuit of fame and fortune. It’s not hard to imagine how such individuals could win in a cut-throat world.
However, there’s more than one way to be bad. As BBC Future explored last year, psychologists have recently identified three traits that might describe the most ruthless people. They are: (1)Machiavellianism: characterised by cynical manipulation, (2)Narcissism: how self-centred you are, and (3)Psychopathy: a combination of risky impulsivity and callousness
Occasionally, all three corners of this “dark triad” converge in a single person, who is vain, scheming, and unfeeling, but sometimes you can score highly in one characteristic but not the other. So, to get ahead, does it matter what ‘type’ of ruthless you are?
