It seems that great leaders don't just think outside the box, they think outside the sane.
Said Dr. Nassir Ghaemi, author of a new book on the advantages of mental illness for leadership:
"Creativity and resilience is higher in people with mania and realism and empathy is higher in people with depression compared to normal subjects. The problem often with mentally healthy, average leaders is — even though they're not weak in the sense of not having any of these qualities — they often don't have enough to meet the very high demands of crises."
Well, if mental illness is desirable in a president then I think Michele "2 dollar" Bachmann is the obvious choice.
Dr. Ghaemi goes on to say that the problem with mentally healthy leaders is that they suffer, like most of us do, from a "mild positive illusion":
"We think that we're slightly more intelligent, slightly better looking, than we really are. We tend to overestimate our control over our environment. And that can be quite fine under normal circumstances. That may actually help us to get more done because of that confidence, but a political leader needs to be realistic rather than just optimistic for the sake of optimism."
Nope, then that disqualifies Michele Bachmann because she's way too optimistic about her chances.
Seriously though, do mentally healthy people pursue the presidency to begin with? These politicians must all be damaged goods in one way or another.
August 20, 2011 | All Things Considered on NPR
URL: http://n.pr/r0Rzep
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