Psychologist found the first corporate psychopath—a 17th century Dutch mutineer

The concept of a corporate psychopath is eerily recognizable, depending on your work history. It’s also notoriously misunderstood. The archetype of the manipulative, self-serving manager has regularly resurfaced in popular culture for decades, but concrete evidence supporting the wider concept is debatable. For example, a research study went viral in 2016 after estimating upwards of 1-in-5 business employees fit the “psychopath” bill, only to be retracted two years later. Additionally, psychiatrists widely agree that only about 1 percent of the general population truly can be considered clinically psychopathic. That said, many of the people determined to claw their way to the top of the company ladder display at least some of the trademark psychopathic behaviors. Many theorists have convincingly argued this has a lot to do with corporate capitalism’s foundational principles, which leave it easily exploited by the most ruthless and manipulative among us. Clive Boddy, one of the world’s foremost investigators of corporate psychopathy, recently took this idea to its logical historical conclusion. In a study recently published in the Asian Journal of Business Ethics, Boddy reviewed one of toxic corporate leadership’s earliest documented examples—and he makes today’s nightmare coworkers sound tame in comparison. Who was Jeronimus Cornelisz? Meet Jeronimus Cornelisz, an all-time contender for World’s Worst Boss. According to archival accounts, the 17th century Dutchman Cornelisz embodied every core corporate psychopath characteristic over 400 years ago while working for the conglomerate that started it all: the Dutch East India Company. Established in Amsterdam in 1602, the Dutch East India Company is arguably the world’s first multinational, shareholder-owned company. It quickly amassed enough funds and power to rival most sovereign countries through the import and export of spices, tea, luxury items, coffee, wine, and enslaved populations. The Dutch East India Company eventually exerted enough influence to wage its own wars, mint its own currency, form colonies, as well as arrest and execute convicts. All of this was made possible through a vast fleet of ships,but even the best outfitted vessels sometimes fell afoul of nature. In June 1629, a Dutch East India Company’s flagship called Batavia collided with a reef off the Western Australian coast. Nearly 300 survivors made it to the nearby island shores, but their remote location ensured they wouldn’t survive without help. The ship’s senior officers soon set off in an open longboat on a 1,900-mile journey to present-day Jakarta, then the Dutch East Indies’ capital. Before leaving, they appointed under-merchant Jeronimus Cornelisz to the top corporate position in their absence. An illustration from 1647 depicting survivors being transferred from the wrecked Batavia to nearby islands in the ship’s boats. Credit: Wikimedia Commons Mutiny, murder, and malignant narcissism Unbeknownst to Batavia’s departing senior crew, Cornelisz had already spent weeks scheming on ways to incite a mutiny. The plan was to take control of the vessel then steer its copious stores of gold and silver to a new life. Cornelisz apparently viewed getting marooned as an inconvenient detour, and quickly got to work on his hostile takeover. According to firsthand accounts, Cornelisz immediately consolidated power by swapping fellow council members with loyalists and requiring them to pledge an oath of allegiance to him. Next, he tricked suspected opponents under the direction of a soldier named Wiebbe Hayes to search a nearby island for supplies, then left them to die. Although his revised plan required any impending rescue ship, Cornelisz’s ultimate goal remained the same—get as far away as possible, then start his own kingdom using riches plundered from Batavia. Over the ensuing months, Cornelisz directed his gang to kill more than 100 of the shipwrecked men, women, and children. Cornelisz often justified the murders under the pretense of conserving food and water, when in actuality he was continuing to eliminate perceived threats. Meanwhile, some of the surviving women were subjected to sexual abuse. However, Cornelisz underestimated his abandoned compatriots. As the operatically psychopathic Cornelisz terrorized his group of survivors and scrounged for supplies, Hayes’ team reportedly discovered freshwater wells and hunted local wallabies, seals, and fish. The two sides subsequently squared off on multiple occasions after learning of each others’ continued existence until a rescue ship finally arrived in October 1629. After nearly three months, only about a third of Batavia’s original passengers and crew were left. The stern section of the Batavia hull and reconstructed gateway, both housed in the Shipwreck Galleries in Fremantle, Western Australia. Credit: Wikimedia Commons Cornelisz receives his company review Management ultimately decided Cornelisz wasn’t internal promotion material, even by Dutch East India Company standards. Nearly everyone involved in his reign of terror was executed. As for Cornelisz and his closest loyalists, authorities eventually hanged them, but not before cutting off their hands. The tragedy of the Batavia is an admittedly extreme case study, but Boddy argued that it illustrates how corporate structures have facilitated and encouraged psychopathic behaviors since the invention of the corporation itself. “The same playbook we see in toxic workplaces today appears in this case from 1629,” he said. “He removed opponents, rewarded loyalists, created fear, manipulated followers and pursued power at any cost.” A corporate (psychopath) case study In recent years, some historians have expressed doubts about details in the Batavia saga after reviewing available evidence and recontextualizing cultural dynamics. Instead of focusing on the machinations of a single ruthless corporate psychopath, they contend Batavia is more accurately a case study in group desperation. But even when viewed under this lens, the chilling event is still a cautionary tale about corporate capitalism’s darker underpinnings. “Perhaps the most striking finding is that another leader facing the same circumstances achieved completely different outcomes,” Boddy said. “This was effectively a natural experiment in leadership. One group prospered while the other descended into murder and abuse.” 2026 Popular Science Home of the Future Awards 39 products that will improve your everyday life.