Spotting The Psychopath Lurking in Your Office
By Hazel Parry
Dr John Clarke, for years an expert in the criminal mind, remembers the day he suddenly realized that there might be psychopaths at large in millions of offices around the world.
Research claims that 1 per cent of the adult working population are workplace psychopaths. (Probably more since the majority of psychopaths go undiagnosed) In offices large and small, in boardrooms and on shop floors the psychopath lurks; lying, cheating, stealing, manipulating, victimising and destroying coworkers - all without any guilt or remorse.
Worse than that, says Clarke, these so-called organizational psychopaths thrive in the corporate world where their ruthlessness and desire to succeed is not only mistaken as ambition and good leadership skills but is rewarded with promotion, bonuses and pay raises.
In an interview the psychopath is a charmer coming across as the perfect person for the job.
"They are very good talkers and will often make up things in their resume so the interview panel is taken in by them," says Clarke. "They appear to be charming, intelligent and sophisticated and it is only if you dig a little deeper you can see what sort of person they are."
The workplace psychopath will do anything to get the power, the status and the salary they crave.
"The workplace psychopath thinks the same as the criminal psychopath. They are all out for themselves," says Clarke. "However, the difference is that where the violent criminal psychopath physically destroys their victims, the workplace one (like the relationship one) psychologically destroys them."
Clarke, a PhD in psychology from the University of Sydney, is the author of the recently published The Pocket Psycho (Random House), a survival guide on how to protect yourself from the organizational psychopath.
According to Clarke you can spot the workplace psychopath by the following behaviour patterns and personality traits.
1. GUILTLESS: The workplace psychopath shows no remorse no matter how much they victimize, back-stab or steal credit.
2. CHARMING: They are very good talkers. They prefer to operate one-on-one and will avoid group meetings.
3. MANIPULATIVE: They bend the corporate systems and rules for their own advantage. They prey on people's weaknesses, particularly low self esteem.
4. PARASITIC: They take credit for other people's work.
5. PATHOLOGICAL LIARS: When discovered they can talk their way out of trouble.
6. ERRATIC: Psychopaths only experience primary emotions (happiness, sadness, anger) and only when it applies to them. The rest of the time they are very good actors who fake these emotions to fool family and others. They will also shift between emotions very quickly, one minute being happy, the next being angry and the next sad.
Workplace psychopaths operate by making friends with someone high up who can protect them. They undermine their boss while at the same time being friendly towards them and work their way up the corporate ladder.
For those targeted by the psychopath, the consequences can be devastating. "They take away people's belief in themselves and their abilities. They take away their trust in other people," said Clarke. "The victim becomes cold, cynical, bitter and almost unable to function."
Clarke says there are two weapons we can use to protect ourselves from the workplace psycho: education and teamwork.
"If you educate yourself then you recognize why this person is doing these things to you. This stops the cycle of self-blame and isolation which victims feel," he said.
"The second thing is team-building and teamwork. You should talk to other people and tell them what is happening. If a psychopath can't isolate you, they can't destroy you."
In circumstances when the employer fails to act, Clarke recommends the victim should move jobs. Why? Because you cannot change a psychopath, and rehabilitation only makes them worse.
"They don't care. They don't think of themselves as psychopaths. They don't think they are doing wrong. They blame everyone else for 'going along with' them. They just think they are smart and if everyone else had the same intelligence, they would do the same thing," says Clarke. "When you rehabilitate them, you teach them social skills and show them how to deal with people appropriately. They will then simply use those social skills to better manipulate people."
SOURCE
Dr John Clarke, for years an expert in the criminal mind, remembers the day he suddenly realized that there might be psychopaths at large in millions of offices around the world.
"I was giving a lecture on criminal psychology and gave a psychopath checklist," he said. "At the end, a woman came up and said 'You have just described my boss'."What Clarke discovered was that the psychopath is not just a person you find in prison, in a courtroom or in the pages of a thriller. He or she is scheming in workplaces all over the world.
Research claims that 1 per cent of the adult working population are workplace psychopaths. (Probably more since the majority of psychopaths go undiagnosed) In offices large and small, in boardrooms and on shop floors the psychopath lurks; lying, cheating, stealing, manipulating, victimising and destroying coworkers - all without any guilt or remorse.
Worse than that, says Clarke, these so-called organizational psychopaths thrive in the corporate world where their ruthlessness and desire to succeed is not only mistaken as ambition and good leadership skills but is rewarded with promotion, bonuses and pay raises.
Take for example the average job advertisement, says Clarke. "They say things like 'You know you are best, you are able to influence people, you are determined to win at any cost for the organisation.'
These sorts of statements appeal to a lot of people, but they particularly appeal to the psychopath."
"What an organisation is doing when they place an ad like this, is indirectly encouraging a psychopath to apply."
In an interview the psychopath is a charmer coming across as the perfect person for the job.
"They are very good talkers and will often make up things in their resume so the interview panel is taken in by them," says Clarke. "They appear to be charming, intelligent and sophisticated and it is only if you dig a little deeper you can see what sort of person they are."
The workplace psychopath will do anything to get the power, the status and the salary they crave.
"The workplace psychopath thinks the same as the criminal psychopath. They are all out for themselves," says Clarke. "However, the difference is that where the violent criminal psychopath physically destroys their victims, the workplace one (like the relationship one) psychologically destroys them."
Clarke, a PhD in psychology from the University of Sydney, is the author of the recently published The Pocket Psycho (Random House), a survival guide on how to protect yourself from the organizational psychopath.
According to Clarke you can spot the workplace psychopath by the following behaviour patterns and personality traits.
1. GUILTLESS: The workplace psychopath shows no remorse no matter how much they victimize, back-stab or steal credit.
2. CHARMING: They are very good talkers. They prefer to operate one-on-one and will avoid group meetings.
3. MANIPULATIVE: They bend the corporate systems and rules for their own advantage. They prey on people's weaknesses, particularly low self esteem.
4. PARASITIC: They take credit for other people's work.
5. PATHOLOGICAL LIARS: When discovered they can talk their way out of trouble.
6. ERRATIC: Psychopaths only experience primary emotions (happiness, sadness, anger) and only when it applies to them. The rest of the time they are very good actors who fake these emotions to fool family and others. They will also shift between emotions very quickly, one minute being happy, the next being angry and the next sad.
Workplace psychopaths operate by making friends with someone high up who can protect them. They undermine their boss while at the same time being friendly towards them and work their way up the corporate ladder.
For those targeted by the psychopath, the consequences can be devastating. "They take away people's belief in themselves and their abilities. They take away their trust in other people," said Clarke. "The victim becomes cold, cynical, bitter and almost unable to function."
Clarke says there are two weapons we can use to protect ourselves from the workplace psycho: education and teamwork.
"If you educate yourself then you recognize why this person is doing these things to you. This stops the cycle of self-blame and isolation which victims feel," he said.
"The second thing is team-building and teamwork. You should talk to other people and tell them what is happening. If a psychopath can't isolate you, they can't destroy you."
In circumstances when the employer fails to act, Clarke recommends the victim should move jobs. Why? Because you cannot change a psychopath, and rehabilitation only makes them worse.
"They don't care. They don't think of themselves as psychopaths. They don't think they are doing wrong. They blame everyone else for 'going along with' them. They just think they are smart and if everyone else had the same intelligence, they would do the same thing," says Clarke. "When you rehabilitate them, you teach them social skills and show them how to deal with people appropriately. They will then simply use those social skills to better manipulate people."
SOURCE
Comments