My mother was narcissistic, incapable of empathy and frequently violent. However, she was also as dim as a Toc-H lamp and had the charisma of a warthog! Ithink she used every scrap of charm she had in capturing my father and though she still managed to manipulate him in small ways she could never control him fully. I'm pretty sure, for instance, that he cheated on her sometimes. But she was following in the footsteps of her mother, a true psychopath who dominated her daughter and husband all her life but who never quite mastered the knack of controlling her son-in-law or eldest grandson. Dad was a strong man who couldn't be moved and I was always the wild card - too unpredictable.

Most bosses lack empathy and morals, but these are learned, not innate, characteristics. They had to become that way to get where they are, stay there and make the next step up. A reflection on the toxic nature of modern workplace culture.