Borderline bosses

One out of a hundred people that you work with will be a psychopath.

In short:
– Psychopaths aren’t just killers
– Workplace psychopaths leave a trail of destruction
– How to spot workplace psychopaths
– CEOs should be screened to weed out psychopaths

At the start of my career, one of my first bosses was an out-and-out psychopath. A narcissistic layabout, this person’s career was driven by hiving off the talent of others, taking credit for work that was not hers and bullying her staff to the point of abuse. She was a pathological liar who was highly manipulative and destructive. Because of that she had a turnstile at the door of her department. People just didn’t last long because she made working conditions absolutely intolerable.

I didn’t know too much about psychology then, all I knew was that she was disturbed and dangerous. It was only later when I began to study the phenomenon of workplace bullying that I discovered she fitted the profile of a psychopath perfectly.

Thanks to movies and television, when most people think of psychopaths they get a disturbing image of a serial killer, with a violence-filled childhood, who remorselessly hacks people to death for fun. Shows like Dexter serve to fuel this image, but the truth is a lot scarier. We live, work and walk past psychopaths every day of our lives. They are our neighbours, run the lift club or are our colleagues and bosses.

Euphemistically termed “borderline personalities” it is a startling fact that the majority of psychopaths aren’t emotionless killers but seemingly average people who hold down 9-to-5 jobs like you and me.

“The common misconception with psychopaths is that they’re all violent, extreme kind of criminals. The majority of them are living and working around us in jobs psychologically destroying the people they work with,” says Dr John Clarke an Australian-based psychological profiler and author of the book Working with Monsters. The book offers advice on how to identify and deal with workplace psychopaths.

More common than you’d think, workplace psychopaths charm and manipulate their way through business, often leaving a lasting mark on their victims. They are often extremely narcissistic, lack empathy are highly destructive, ruthless and can make life hell for those who work with or for them. According to Clarke, up to 3% of adult males are psychopaths, while less than 1% of women are.

How do you spot a psychopath? Well there’s the Hare Psychopathy Checklist that was developed by Dr Robert D Hare, professor emeritus of the University of British Columbia. The checklist was created by Hare as a diagnostic tool to rate people’s psychopathic or antisocial tendencies.

In short, psychopaths display anti-social behaviour that is evidenced by pathological lying, a complete lack of empathy, no sense of guilt, a lack of a conscience and very superficial emotions. Psychopaths enjoy what they do so they will have a history of victimisation and leave a trail of destruction in their wake.

Hare’s checklist:
– Glibness, superficial charm
– Grandiose sense of self-worth
– Pathological lying
– Cunning, manipulative
– Lack of remorse or guilt
– Shallow affect
– Callous, lack of empathy
– Failure to accept responsibility for own actions
– Promiscuous sexual behaviour
– Need for stimulation, proneness to boredom
– Parasitic lifestyle
– Poor behavioural control
– Lack of realistic, long-term goals
– Impulsivity
– Irresponsibility
– Juvenile delinquency
– Early behaviour problems
– Revocation of conditional release
– Many short-term marital relationships
– Criminal versatility

Obviously the checklist isn’t a tick-box for a layperson’s diagnosis and interpretation but is a good departure point for understanding borderline behaviour.

Hare has often called for CEOs to be screened to weed out psychopaths. He says financial scandals could be prevented if they were profiled to ensure they were psychologically fit to lead corporations and steer the fate of thousands of employees. Hare says the average psychopath easily moves through head-hunting interviews and HR processes, which don’t reveal enough about candidates psychological profiling.

If you need a little more help identifying a borderline boss, Clarke says you can spot them by looking out for the following:
– They’re guiltless. Workplace psychopaths will back-stab and victimise without showing any remorse.
– They’re cunning and manipulative. They can justify breaking rules and bending corporate systems to their benefit and prey on weakness and people’s lack of self-esteem.
– They are emotionally erratic and unable to nuance their emotions. They only experience primary feelings such as happiness, sadness or anger. They shift very quickly and erratically between these feelings.
– They’re charmers. They have the gift of the gab, are good orators and prefer dealing with people one-on-one rather than in groups.
– They’re pathological liars and can often talk their way out of trouble.
– They’re parasitic in that they live off other’s good deeds and good work. They often take credit for innovations and ideas that are not their own.

Speaking to psychologists when writing this article, I asked whether real psychopaths could be reformed. The answer I got was that therapy simply makes psychopaths more cunning because it gives them the tools to become better manipulators, liars and teaches them how to fake socialisation or empathy to get what they want.

The expert’s advice on what to do if you come face to face with a psychopath in the workplace?

Quit, leave or get out the way before you get hurt.