Suzanne Harrington: 'You’d rather a psychopath be in charge than a malignant narcissist'

The malignant narcissist is so fragile, paranoid and insecure that their behaviour will be wildly volatile, unpredictable and incoherent. Sound familiar?

According to Forbes, between 4% and 12% of corporate bosses exhibit psychopathic traits — calm, charming, power hungry, ruthless, no empathy — compared with 1% of the general population. Picture: iStock

In the early noughties, in a Covent Garden hotel, I interviewed a former New York Times journalist who had written a book called True Story, later made into a film, about a malignant narcissist.

It was an insane story involving the malignant narcissist murdering his family before going on the run and impersonating the former New York Times journalist while on the run.