I wonder if some personality disorders make people successful in certain careers

[Prototypian]

A book I read called "narcissistic leaders" discussed multiple major leaders and their narcissistic tendencies and how the world orbits around those people.   The result was that the leaders were impossible to work with but their nature made them and the jobs they did remarkably successful. 

I once met a home building inspector who reminded me of my spouse with her OCPD tendencies.  He (the insoector) was so focused on the details of the absolute nature of the specifications and requirements that you couldn't even make a casual joke with him because everything was so serious and so important. 

My spouse is radically successful in her role which involves lobbying.   Her passion for it seems to an outsider like she is a form of crusader for a cause.  This is true in a sense but she is also unable to take any step back from the absolute nature of the critical importance of what she sees as the only topic that matters.  To her, everyone is wrong  ("wrong thoughts and understanding of the issue") if they are not aligned with the critical goal.   


I wonder if BPD individuals make good workers in some sort of career.   Sociopaths and manipulators work well as interrogators or cia types working with spies.   Do some of these traits that can torment others actually make personality disorder-afflicted individuals radically successful in certain careers?

[SeaBreeze]

My 2nd husband's narcissistic confidence, paired with OCPD workaholism and attention to detail, served him very, very well in his career. He actually masked well at work and got along great with his team. He provided very well for our family as far as finances and material comforts. Unfortunately, those same traits that served him well at work made it difficult living with him in the nice home he bought for our family. I wanted home to be our family's sanctuary; to him, sanctuary meant the place he could drop the mask and vent all his frustrations that he tamped down during the work day, and abuse his family that he worked so hard to provide for. Making home anything but a sanctuary.

[Call Me Cordelia]

If a personality disorder is an asset in a certain industry, that would tend to speak to there being something unhealthy about that, no? Cough cough* politics cough*

[Prototypian]

I was careful to not discuss any politics or specific people but you can find correlations for sure.

The names in the book I read which is called Narcissistic leaders highlights multiple actual leaders primarily in large enterprise business including:
Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer,
Andy Grove, Jack Welch, Jeff Bezos, Jeff Skilling, Larry Ellison, Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, Adam Neumann, Oprah Winfrey, and Martha Stewart.   

Since these personality disorders are a spectrum and it's hard to diagnose not being a doctor trained in the clinical science and they are all highly productive people we may never know if they are specifically Narcissists.   The author didn't diagnose them narcissists, he only aligned traits and interviews by people who worked with them to be narcissistic behaviors.  I knew a genius in grad school who engaged with no one and just read and worked in the lab all the time eventually working at one of the energy department national labs.  I couldn't tell you if he was just quirky or had a PD or both but he hated spending time with other people and often voiced that to anyone who tried to engage with him.  But his research was unbelievable

I wonder if leadership specifically can have highly effective people who are nearly always right in their assessment of a problem and are faster than anyone else in the organization at finding solutions and through a combination of narcissism and motivation are simply the most successful jerks in the whole world.   It doesn't take an assessment of a few statistically outside the norm people in competitive business to see some characteristics that also fall into narcissism traits.

That's why I also wonder if some people I have met who work in highly detailed and rule-oriented professions like tax and county offices, auditors, regulatory agencies, police detectives, specific types of lawyers and others could (and I'm not saying they do) be successful with OCPD. They then land in those professions because that kind of work satisfies their ocpd tendencies.

[GoodPesto]

Thanks for the chuckle CallmeCordelia.
This subject reminds me that I read somewhere that psychopathic traits are common and useful within the medical field. It would not be very useful to feel the patient's pain or to lose appetite, just because you just amputated the arm of a kid. No, you need someone who keeps a steady hand while operating on a pulsating brain or heart, who keeps his/her cool and forgets about the human story around the body on the table. This is surely achievable via other ways, but sometimes it's PDtraits turned useful for society.
In general people who are not burdened with a conscience and lack empathy are the ones who succeed in dog-eat-dog-societies. Their ruthlessness and recklessness is exactly what's needed when "higher, faster, more" are the shared values. You would need people to be able to fire long-term colleagues, you would need those who do not give a damn if they destroy other's career, health or life.
I would bet there are tons of more talented and more qualified people far away from where they could be career-wise who just weren't cold-hearted enough to remain within the competition because it was asked at some point to hurt someone else and they couldn't bring themselves to do it and stepped away.
The "funny" thing is, you will find people with PDtraits also concentrated in "doing good" areas like charity, animal welfare and similar. It's a little more hidden sometimes but in the end you can find the same dynamics. Getting applause and appreciation for being oh-so-selfless and helping without getting paid offers great supply for many with those suffering from certain PDs. Nothing wrong with it per se of course, if there just weren't other people's souls being crushed along the way up to being ready to end their lives.

Also, I think, society sometimes enforces some PDs. Looking at the list of names ... How do you not develop narcisstic traits when being popular? Media-hype, photographs, admiration up to worship, money thrown at you or around you, your face not only known but people think they actually know you, hyperventilate when they see you or get to know you, etc. Easily imaginable that's not very healthy for anyones P., isn't it?

[Poison Ivy]

I would not be surprised if narcissism is more common among surgeons, trial lawyers, and politicians, among others.

[NarcKiddo]

A family member of mine went beyond personality disorders into actual psychopathy, I think. She had an excellent and very lucrative career in various high powered government roles.

[walking on broken glass]

Emotional maturity is actually a hindrance, not a quality, in modern politics, so I can see why PDs would be successful. I have also seen in my line of work how narcissism fools people about a certain person's skills and abilities. Lots of inflated egos in academia.

[escapingman]

In my line of work there are many narcs running projects as project managers, project directors etc. They are often more interested in maintaining their power and to make sure everyone is doing what they are told. These projects always fails but when that happens the PD is long gone ad someone else has been put in place to clear the mess whilst the PD is onto the next project creating havoc. I can't work with these people anymore and it is seriously affecting my work life.

[Blueberry Pancakes]

Yes. Absolutely.

I have thought about this several times with various managers I have had the displeasure to work around. Sometimes, I think it is a pre-requisite for higher level management. They have the ability to mask well and get approval from their bosses, which makes all their employees very compliant. They always have one or two office favorites fluttering around them constantly. 
                     
I remember the first time I realized this was sort of "a thing" was way back during the Enron scandal in the early 2000's. I followed the news on it daily with total fascination how such dynamics take shape and drew comparisons to my current work environment. The individuals were all the same, just in different locations.
       

[Prototypian]

I've noticed that fear and anxiety drive my ocpd spouse.  I wonder if that same fear drives  other PD individuals.   It's pretty tough to nail down but I sort of know it when I see it.