A First-Rate Madness: Uncovering the Links Between Leadership and Mental Illness

We tend to see mental health as “being normal”—happy, realistic, fulfilled.

Searching for a term less loaded than “normal” to describe these people, Grinker called them homoclites, a Latinate term he invented to indicate “those who follow a common rule.”

The unlucky, who, early in their lives, endure hardships and tragedies—or the challenge of mental illness—seem to become, not infrequently, our greatest leaders.

I hesitated whenever I had to face strange audiences and avoided making a speech whenever I could.

That is, the psychologically healthier patients were the most unrealistic.

Our leaders cannot be perfect; they need not be perfect; their imperfections indeed may produce their greatness. The indelible smudges on their character may be signs of brilliant leadership.

illness. They both attempted suicide as teenagers, endured at least one depressive episode in midlife, and suffered a very severe depressive episode in their final years, before they were killed.

Our want of independence began to smart. It was unbearable that we should be unable to do anything without the elders’ permission. At last, in sheer disgust, we decided to commit suicide! But how were we to do it? From where were we to get the poison? We heard that Dhatura seeds were an effective poison. Off we went to the jungle in search of these

resilience—“good outcomes in spite of serious threats to adaptation or development.”