A Psychopathic CEO on a Sales Call?

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a list of excellent suggestions from Gerhard Gschwandtner about "How to Sell in a Down Economy". One of those suggestions was: "Send the CEO out to sell. If the CEO hasn't spoken with ten customers in the past week, he isn't doing his job."

Now, I happen to think that's pretty good advice. However, there are some CEOs who are so self-absorbed and so full of themselves that they might do more harm than good. It turns out that some CEOs (not all, but some) are actually psychopathic -- and that's exactly why they've been successful as CEOs.

A 2004 New York Times article explained that, according to top psychologists, "white-collar psychopaths...are prone to being 'subcriminal' psychopaths: smooth-talking, energetic individuals who easily charm their way into jobs and promotions but who are also exceedingly manipulative, narcissistic and ruthless."

Sound familiar?

The question here is whether that kind of CEO (and they certainly do exist) would help or hinder the sales process. Here's an example from my own experience.

I was once responsible for setting the document management strategy for a Fortune 100 corporation. In that role, I was responsible for selecting products that our company would sell to other companies. Because we were a major channel, it was very much in their interest to "sell" their software to us, meaning me.

We were looking at one vendor closely enough to do visit their corporate headquarters, at which point their CEO got involved in the sale. He was personable enough when talking to us, but I could tell from the reaction of his employees to his presence that they were afraid of him.

What's more, this guy had a $100,000 car parked in a reserved spot right in front of the door, a designer desk made from a lengthwise slice of a giant redwood, and a secretary who could have stepped out of the pages of Penthouse magazine, six-inch heels and all.

I concluded that the CEO was a narcissist, a common type of psychopath. I gave the company a negative and the deal fell through. Now, that deal was worth several million dollars to them, and probably would have meant the difference between success and failure. (They went under about a year later.)

In other words, that company failed because their CEO had psychological problems which scuttled the Sale. I didn't want to become more deeply involved with that company and I certainly didn't want to spend my time dealing with a company that had a clearly dysfunctional leader.

If I were somebody else, though, I might have been impressed by the guy. I might have seen his perks as signs of success rather than signs that he was a jackass.

Anyway, I'm curious about what you guys think.

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