Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work

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Considering that the survival of the economy and the meeting of the needs of society are likely to be in the interests of the antisocial personalities, one can only hope that these individuals will see the benefit of playing a role that is assisting and beneficial to all – even if this is just a consequence of their other true intentions. That said, antisocial personalities are also the ones most likely to opportunistically exploit the situation to their benefit alone.” These individuals may also be irresponsible and exploitative in their sexual relationships. They may have a history of many sexual partners and may never have sustained a monogamous relationship,” she adds. No one was surprised when Gus was moved out of his position—except, perhaps, Gus—after Helen made arguments to the executive committee members that implicated him in the original business letdown. She had clever ideas and tremendous energy, and persisted in pushing strongly for what she wanted; she constructed a plausible story line about Gus’s mismanagement that solidly reinforced her business case. Helen was profoundly competitive, dramatic in her engagement with others, and just loved to take center stage and the limelight. Turning the division around gave her the platform she needed for a great career at the company. Overall, she convinced them that she possessed all the leadership traits needed to run a major business. Naturally, she was the choice to replace Gus, and was rewarded by a promotion to his position as COO.

In the following key points, you’ll learn about psychopaths and how they’re able to identify your weaknesses. In fact, we are sometimes the only ones attentive to providing for your deepest wants and needs, the only ones so deeply attuned to them for no ulterior motive immediately discernible by you. We observe our target and strive to become a facsimile of whatever or whomever that person wants – a good employee or boss or lover. It’s not always the case that the facsimile is malicious or ill intentioned. And it makes the target feel good for the course of the transaction and usually ends without harm. In general, the sociopath is the one who manages to access environments or work contexts that tend to reward their personality traits, thus enabling them to sublimate the character traits particular to their way of being, thinking and perceiving. These are the ‘socialised’ or ‘successful’ ones.”Even though these traits may paint a picture of people who have no remorse and are impulsive, readers should not jump to conclusions about themselves or others being psychopaths based on this criteria. Only qualified professionals can diagnose someone as a psychopath, and even normal people may exhibit some of these traits. Big Idea #2: You are in danger

I read this as a follow up to Jon Ronson’s marvelous Psychopath Test, which was named for the diagnostic criteria Dr. Hare developed. I ended up skimming quite a bit of it because it was what it was billed to be – a book about dealing with psychopaths in the workplace, largely from a corporate management perspective. It’s good, but spent way too much time cautioning the reader to not do exactly what it was telling us how to do – realize that there are psychopaths among us and reducing the harm they can cause.In the same article, Isaacson writes: “I asked him again about his tendency to be rough on people. ‘Look at the results,’ he replied. ‘These are all smart people I work with, and any of them could get a top job at another place if they were truly feeling brutalised. But they don’t.’ Then he paused for a few moments and said, almost wistfully: ‘And we got some amazing things done’.”

The board welcomed his advice and felt comfortable with his occasional visits to his former company’s (now a division) headquarters. Bailey wanted to keep the old values he had impressed upon his people alive in the company, and hoped that they would spread to the other parts of the bigger corporation, but this was not to be. Being part of a big corporation meant that there were now many divisions and locations, and his little piece of the corporate world, as well as his ability to influence, was lessening with each acquisition. Other divisions had their own values, service lines, and ways of doing things, and the corporate staff had their own ideas about what the overall company culture ought to be like.

For me the "the names have been changed" (not to protect the innocent but to forestall legal action) case studies were probably the most interesting and helpful parts. I think you'll find this informative, eye opening and (again) even a little disturbing. This cookie is set by Addthis. This is a geolocation cookie to understand where the users sharing the information are located. Lynda took a drink and smiled shyly. Just out of school, she never thought working for a big company would be like this. The last few months had been very rough on her. She could handle the work, of course, and brought some new computer assessment techniques to the department from her schooling, but the hurt she felt just would not go away.

For the antisocial personality the pandemic and the situation it has created is one that is full of opportunity for exploitation, and, as with any stressful, pressured and uncertain situation, the context can either bring out the underlying best or the worst in any personality,” Kerr says. Gave me a name for something I’ve seen in both my personal and professional life – “the psychopathic bond.” The bond the psychopath will cultivate in another that allows them to feed. Raising the question – are psychopath vampires? On this, ME Thomas – the author and self-proclaimed sociopath – has another view: “I believe that most people who interact with sociopaths are better off than they otherwise would be. Sociopaths are part of the grease making the world go around. We fulfil fantasies, or at least the appearance of fantasies. If they constantly talk shit about everyone else and every bad thing about their life is someone else's problem, that is a warning sign. The person I dealt with constantly complained about our mutual friend to me and to other people in her life(while he considered her his best friend), and then I found out that she made up rumors about me to mutual friends (like, gross exaggerations to completely made up). If you're feeling some high-school drama vibes from a person twice the high school age, you might want to keep that person at arm's length.Kerr insinuates that one of the factors that might lead psychopaths and sociopaths to be successful, particularly in the corporate world, may just be their immunity to emotional distress, or “emotional bulletproofing”. Revised and updated with the latest scientific research and updated case studies, the business classic that offers a revealing look at psychopaths in the workplace—how to spot their destructive behavior and stop them from creating chaos in the modern corporate organization. I read a book on psychopathy some years ago and it...disturbed me. The idea that psychopaths may walk, live and work among us quite commonly was at least an eye opener. Since then I've read several books about the phenomena.