New research suggests the same personality traits associated with toxic corporate leaders today may have been present at the very birth of global capitalism 400 years ago.
The study , published in the Asian Journal of Business Ethics identifies Jeronimus Cornelisz, who was a merchant manager with the Dutch East India Company, as likely being the earliest documented example of a corporate psychopath.
The research, by Dr Clive Boddy of Anglia Ruskin University (ARU), is believed to be the first to systematically assess Cornelisz's behaviour using a recognised corporate psychopathy framework rather than relying solely on historical interpretation. The study found that he displayed all 10 of the core characteristics associated with corporate psychopaths.
These include the use of charm to gain trust; surrounding themselves with loyal supporters; removing potential challengers; creating divisions among rivals; establishing a climate of fear; avoiding responsibility when things go wrong; and pursuing power, money and control above all else.
The Dutch East India Company was the world’s first multinational shareholder-owned company, and they founded what became one of the world’s first stock exchanges in Amsterdam in 1602.
According to the study, Cornelisz’s case suggests that individuals motivated by power, wealth and personal advancement were attracted to commercial enterprises from the earliest days of capitalist business.
The research centres on the infamous wreck of the Batavia in 1629 on reefs off the coast of Western Australia. Following the shipwreck, approximately 200 survivors were stranded across a group of isolated islands. With senior officers having sailed to present-day Jakarta to seek rescue, Cornelisz, an under-merchant employed by the company, became the most senior corporate figure remaining among the survivors.
In the study, Dr Boddy explains how Cornelisz quickly consolidated power by replacing council members with loyal supporters, requiring personal oaths of allegiance and isolating potential opponents. Under his leadership, around 100 men, women and children were murdered, while some women were subjected to sexual violence. The killings were justified by Cornelisz as a means of conserving food and water supplies, but the murders also removed his perceived rivals.
Meanwhile, a group of survivors stranded by Cornelisz on a different island was led by a leader named Wiebbe Hayes. Hayes organised thorough hunts for fresh water and sustenance, and these searches found two freshwater wells, seabird eggs for food, as well as plentiful fish, wallabies and seals for meat. It was reported by one of Hayes’s followers to be enough food for all the survivors for a “thousand years”.
Dr Boddy, Associate Professor of Management at Anglia Ruskin University (ARU) and a pioneer in the field of corporate psychopathy, said: “What makes this case remarkable is that when we analysed Cornelisz using a modern management psychopathy framework, he displayed every major characteristic associated with corporate psychopaths.
"The same playbook we see in toxic workplaces today appears in this case from 1629. He removed opponents, rewarded loyalists, created fear, manipulated followers and pursued power at any cost.
"Perhaps the most striking finding is that another leader facing the same circumstances achieved completely different outcomes. Wiebbe Hayes built cooperation, discovered new resources and kept people alive.
"This was effectively a natural experiment in leadership. One group prospered while the other descended into murder and abuse.”
The study also argues that corporate psychopaths continue to pose a significant challenge for modern organisations, linking psychopathic leadership to workplace bullying, harassment, reduced employee wellbeing, higher staff turnover and organisational failure. The findings reinforce calls for employers to place greater emphasis on character, ethics and values when selecting senior leaders.
The full, open-access study Asia Bound: shareholder capitalism, corporate psychopathy and psychopathic leadership can be read here: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13520-026-00274-y
Asian Journal of Business Ethics
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Asia bound: shareholder capitalism, corporate psychopathy and psychopathic leadership