I’ve previously linked The Man Gene to science and to swine flu. Republican Governor Mark Sanford of South Carolina now provides compelling evidence that there’s a link between The Man Gene and mental illness.

As reported in the New York Times, South Carolina’s The State, and virtually every other media outlet in the world, Sanford admitted in a bizarre confessional press conference on June 24 to having an affair with a woman named Maria, who lives in Argentina. When the Governor went missing last weekend, no one thought much about it. The Governor has often mysteriously disappeared. 

What no one knew at the time is that his wife had kicked him out of the Governor’s mansion and could honestly say she didn’t know where he was. Sanford told staffers he was hiking the Appalachian Trail, trying to recharge his batteries after recent legislative battles. He has resigned as Chairman of the Republican Governors Association. Some are calling on him to resign the SC governorship.

Sanford says his affair with Maria has been ongoing for a year, although he’s known her for eight years. He says he’s only seen her three times during this year-long romance. It wouldn’t surprise me if he said he met Maria on Mars. The Man Gene has often caused men to lose control. We now have evidence it can cause a man to lose his mind.

I’ll have more on the Sanford saga’s lessons for employers, but suffice it to say for now that Sanford shows all employers how helpless they are when dealing with an employee, particularly an executive, who’s in the grips of The Man Gene. As usual, some expressed shock about this development. A male political science professor in South Carolina said, “I never figured Sanford for anything like this.” Here’s a man every bit as delusional as Sanford.