Psychopathic corporate leaders really exist. And scientists just identified who set the standard. The tricks toxic bosses use today were used to devastating effect by a company man nearly 400 years ago. In June 1629, the Batavia, a ship of the Dutch East India Company (often called the world's first multinational corporation), struck a reef off Western Australia. The captain and senior officers sailed off for help, leaving a company merchant named Jeronimus Cornelisz as the top official among roughly 200 stranded survivors. He swapped the islands' council for loyalists who swore personal oaths to him, hoarded the supplies and treasure, sent rivals to other islands, and had about 100 men, women, and children killed — claiming it saved food and water. Dr Clive Boddy of Anglia Ruskin University scored Cornelisz against a modern corporate psychopathy framework and found he showed all 10 core traits, from superficial charm and deceit to zero remorse and dodging blame. Boddy calls the disaster "effectively a natural experiment in leadership.” With the rules gone, one man's character decided who lived. His playbook of stacking committees with loyalists, dividing opponents and ruling through fear still shows up in workplaces today, and research links psychopathic leaders to bullying, burnout, staff turnover and company collapse. Boddy argues firms should weigh character and ethics far more heavily when picking senior leaders. It's a diagnosis of a man dead for nearly 400 years, built from historical records. Cornelisz himself was captured, tried and hanged in 1629. source: Boddy, C. R. (2026). Asia bound: Shareholder capitalism, corporate psychopathy and psychopathic leadership. Asian Journal of Business Ethics.