They tend to have quite a power of persuasion and dominance in person. That gets diminished when they are reduced to words on a page.
— Leanne ten Brinke on reducing contact with poisonous people“The number one thing I've discovered is that people deny that they have any of these traits. We always want to say it's that other person who is a narcissist, the other person is aggressive, they have envy, but no…. not us. We deny we have these qualities and make out as if we are the exception.”— Robert Greene
Author of "The 48 Laws of Power" & Strategist
The quote archive
Wisdom in fragments
A growing archive of 3,000+ moments, drawn from every interview.
It’s more like a you problem than a them problem. You have a problem with their behaviour, but they don’t have the same level of empathy or concern for others. So why would they care about it?
— Leanne ten Brinke on why dark personalities don’t want to changeThat stress doesn’t just stay in the office. We get in our car, we get on the subway, we bring it home with us. If you have a high-psychopathy boss, research shows you actually have more conflict at home too.
— Leanne ten Brinke on the contagion effect of toxic bossesThey are not held back by care, compassion, concern, or remorse. They are very willing to lie to get what they want.
— Leanne ten Brinke on dark personalities and deceptionNo matter how poor you are, you don’t really have to wear rags anymore. Why? Because technology automated the production of t-shirts.
— No matter how poor you are, you don’t really have to wear rags anymore. Why? Bec…It’s this weird dichotomy of superintelligence and super stupidity, sort of mixed in one scenario.
— It’s this weird dichotomy of superintelligence and super stupidity, sort of mixe…The way we should think about intelligence is in terms of a volume in a high-dimensional space.
— The way we should think about intelligence is in terms of a volume in a high-dim…The problem of our information society isn’t anymore that we don’t have access to information. It’s that we have actually too much information.
— The problem of our information society isn’t anymore that we don’t have access t…It was one of those typical examples of people combining different ideas from different fields and finding magic at that intersection.
— It was one of those typical examples of people combining different ideas from di…The test for any belief isn't whether it makes you feel good. It's whether it makes you better at engaging with reality. That's not self-help. That's applied science.
— The test for any belief isn’t whether it makes you feel good. It’s whether it makes you better at engaging with reality. That’s not self-help. That’s applied science.We don't fail because we make mistakes; mistakes can be fixed. We fail because we quit. And we quit because belief collapsed, not because the strategy was wrong.
— We don’t fail because we make mistakes; mistakes can be fixed. We fail because we quit. And we quit because belief collapsed, not because the strategy was wrong.Strategy is, in large part, institutionalised belief. The question is whether your organisation has any mechanism for examining those beliefs — or whether they're just the water everyone swims in, invisible and unquestioned.
— Strategy is, in large part, institutionalised belief. The question is whether your organisation has any mechanism for examining those beliefsThe phrase 'seeing is believing' has it exactly backwards. The research shows that believing is seeing.
— The phrase ‘seeing is believing’ has it exactly backwards. The research shows that believing is seeing.If the sixty hours of capacity was always there in those rats — what are we writing off as fixed limits in human beings that are actually just locked potential waiting for the right belief?
— If the sixty hours of capacity was always there in those ratsHope is active — it's a discipline. It would be such a profound disservice to give up: a disservice to young people, to the scientists who have spent decades working. There is no other option but to be hopeful. That is what activates me. There is simply no other option.
— Natalie KyriacouGDP mostly measures how money changes hands. War boosts GDP. Oil spills boost GDP. Cancer, bushfires, drug addiction, gambling addiction, health crises — these all boost GDP. It still rises when society is suffering immensely. We can put a carbon market on top of that, but we're still operating within an economic system built on a logic of destruction.
— Natalie Kyriacou