Before the 2008 financial crash, Geraint Anderson worked as a London banker for 12 years, made millions of pounds and then quit. Today he writes books about his time in banking, admitting that he transformed himself into a worse version of himself to achieve success.
Anderson, 53, who now lives in Monmouthshire, was assessed by a clinical psychologist who told him he may have had “situational psychopathy” to thrive in the cutthroat corporate world. He said he had to “become a kind of worse version of myself” to survive the environment.
The Traits That Helped Him Climb
An antisocial personality disorder describes the traits of a psychopath, though it is not a standalone clinical diagnosis. Individuals with such disorders process information and respond to situations in ways that set them apart from most people. They use others for personal gain, show no remorse for wrongs committed, fail to meet obligations, struggle to maintain lasting connections, cannot manage their temper, feel no guilt, and blame others for any trouble in their lives.
Some of the qualities Anderson says helped him rise through the ranks were ones linked to psychopathy. He possessed a measure of fearlessness, a touch of glib charm, and didn’t get overly upset by what went down on the trading floor.
His self-rating on the psychopathy checklist sits around an eight or a nine, with the scale running from zero to 40. The average person scores below five, and a score of 25 or higher generally signals psychopathy.
From Goa to the City
In his early 20s, Anderson was enjoying life in Goa, India, selling trinkets to tourists on the beach. His brother convinced him to apply for a finance job, which he only intended to do for a few years.
“I cut off my ponytail, shaved off my beard, took all my earrings out, bought a £60 suit – all that’s totally true – the day before I had my interview.”
Success became an obsession once he landed the internship. Bonuses became “a way of gauging how wonderfully successful a human being I was.” They allowed him to compare himself to people at other banks and “really appealed to my competitiveness.”
Why the City Rewards Ruthless Ambition
Anderson said a lot of traits psychopaths possess are ones “that the corporate environment rewards” and are “incredibly useful in high-powered jobs in the city.” The city rewards the dark triad behaviour: being uber confident, being able to control and manipulate others, not getting emotionally involved in decisions and being decisive.
The most significant factor when it comes to psychopaths, he said, was “you don’t promote them, you don’t marry them and you don’t vote for them.”.
A Cardiff University psychologist named Robert Snowden, who has spent roughly 25 years researching psychopathy and has worked alongside Robert Hare — the person behind the psychopathy checklist (PCL-R) — concurred that certain corporate settings might hold a draw for individuals displaying psychopathic characteristics.
“They can be very strong and, in some ways, make good leaders… but there are many deficits to their leadership and it’s all about them and not about other people,” Snowden said.
“The fundamental trait of psychopathy is that lack of empathy for other people. Most psychopaths never kill anybody. But they may take advantage of other people, exploit other people, not care about other people.”
No Treatment, No Regret
No cure exists for psychopathy, as “psychopaths often believe that there’s nothing wrong with them.”
A consultant and forensic psychologist named Kerry Daynes has assessed Anderson and determined that he is not a psychopath. Instead, Daynes suggested that Anderson might have become a “situational psychopath,” changing his behaviour to survive in an atmosphere that encouraged extreme ambition.
“You don’t need to be a psychopath to thrive – for a while at least – in a psychopathic culture,” she said.
She also noted that Anderson managed to “crank up” his “darker personality characteristics”, which allowed him to succeed within his environment, a trait that was in “the sweet spot that most people can’t attain.”.
Leaving the Bank, Writing About It
After growing tired of “greed, reckless risk-taking and rule breaking in the industry.”, Anderson departed, then began writing anonymously as City Boy for the London Paper on Fridays.
The transformation produced the book Cityboy, which exceeded 400,000 sales and was rendered into six languages. His subsequent work is his fifth book, examining how taking on psychopathic qualities can aid ascent through corporate ranks.
While working for a corporation, Anderson described himself as a “less pleasant person”, but he now believes he has become a “warmer person”. He says he is more capable of feeling driven to act with honesty and without deceit or ruthlessness. He adds that his wife might argue he still has some of his old psychopathic traits remaining.
| Stage | Detail |
|---|---|
| Early career | Goa, selling trinkets |
| Entry into banking | Cut hair, bought a £60 suit |
| Career peak | Made millions of pounds |
| Aftermath | Wrote Cityboy, sold 400,000 copies |
A man who wrote books about his life spent years turning into a worse version of himself to succeed, and his story reads as a strange kind of honesty.
Source material: “How to spot a psychopath at work – from a man who worried he could be one,” the BBC.
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