Read Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work Online
Authors: Paul Babiak,Robert D. Hare
Tags: #&NEW
Second, being consummate rule breakers, they find the increased freedom to act to their liking. These pretenders capitalize on the lessened reliance on rules and policies and the increased need for free-form decision making that characterize organizations in a chaotic state. Third, as opportunists, they take advantage of others in ways that are not always obvious. In particular, the opportunity to get a leadership or management position is extremely attractive because these positions offer the psychopaths a chance to exert power and control over people and resources, they tend not to require involve-ment in the details, and they command larger-than-average salaries.
Because a leader’s ability to get people to do things is often of more importance than his or her technical capabilities to perform work tasks, pretenders lacking in real work expertise are not disadvantaged; their talents are assumed and their phony or exaggerated backgrounds often accepted at face value.
Darkness and Chaos
165
Entrepreneurial or Just Plain Crooked?
In 2005, the Canadian government was rocked by a patronage scandal involving several hundred million dollars that were funneled by the party in power to advertising agencies. A judicial report on the scandal roundly criticized the party and the ad agencies, who had provided kickbacks for use by the party.
Recently, the Canadian Ethics Commissioner startled the country by stating that the affair could be viewed either as a “triumph of theft” or as a “triumph of entrepreneurship,” depending on “how you look at these things.” He also opined, “I don’t believe we have a bunch of criminals who are trying to get away with something. But what we’ve got is a bunch of people who are trying to do exactly the right thing who sometimes do the wrong thing.” The ad agencies that were recipients of the government’s largesse were merely examples of a good businessman who
“smells blood and says, ‘Jeez, this is not an opportunity that will ever come twice in a lifetime.’ ”
Such ethical relativism is part of the reason psychopathic and other unprincipled “entrepreneurs” find it so easy to line their pockets with the unwitting contributions of those whose ethical standards are more fixed.
In an early 2006 election, the scandal-ridden political party was voted out of power.
While leadership may seem like an easy job to a psychopath, requiring little more than the application of his or her natural conning and manipulation skills, in reality it involves much more talent, skill, and experience. But the constantly changing state of the business works in their favor, clouding the difference between “good” and
“bad” leadership, allowing pretenders to move about the organization through rapid promotions and transfers faster than the results of their behaviors can be measured, evaluated, and handled, thus eluding
166
S N A K E S I N S U I T S
exposure. Short-term results, or what may look like results, can be deceiving, especially if cleverly presented, and can provide enough cover until the next promotion. This is especially true when the performance measurement systems themselves are in a state of flux or perhaps nonexistent. Psychopathic pretenders can thrive on and hide within the chaos of transitioning organizations.
Would an organization in need of strong leadership hire a pretender? Not willingly, of course, but because a pretender can seem like an ideal leadership development candidate to a company seeking entrepreneurial leadership, this mistake can happen quite easily. Likewise, the corporate psychopath on staff, having already created a persona of the ideal employee in the minds of executives and employees alike, can easily morph into a high-energy, visionary entrepreneur.
Once this label is affixed, conning or bullying others can seem like an effective management style, especially when many in the organization are still paralyzed by the chaotic change surrounding them, caught in their personal frustrations, and unable or unwilling to accept the new business model. In contrast to the rest of the organization’s members, the corporate psychopath looks like a knight on a white horse, cool, calm, and confident. The fact that the psychopaths’
efforts rarely result in long-term business improvements is clouded by their self-serving bravado and the mystique that follows them.
When dramatic organizational change is added to the normal levels of job insecurity, personality clashes, and political battling, the resulting chaotic milieu provides both the necessary stimulation and sufficient “cover” for psychopathic behavior.
Secrecy
There is another aspect of organizational life—whether business, military, religious, or government—that facilitates the entry, manipulation, and deceit of the pretender: secrecy. Secrecy is a part of organizational life. The need for secrecy is quite understandable and is
Darkness and Chaos
167
sometimes built into the organization’s procedures, as in the case of protecting trade secrets from competitors or keeping detailed financials confidential during premerger negotiations. Some secrecy is defensive in nature, as when a decision is made that will negatively affect some individuals, and the resulting action needs to take place before there is forewarning, as is often the case with terminations. Or an employee may not expose a coworker’s indiscretions out of fear of reprisal, thus colluding in the secret keeping. Some secrecy is inadvertent, though, such as when events happen faster than the organization’s communication mechanisms can respond. As a result, people are left in the dark and unable to do their jobs properly. In these cases, those in the know may not intend to keep secrets; they simply do not have the opportunity or time to share the information with others.
During times of chaotic change, when more information is better than less, secrecy tends to increase for the aforementioned reasons as well as perhaps other reasons. Regardless of the appropriateness of the secrecy, the impact is often to increase the levels of distrust among employees, reduce the levels of management credibility or perceived trustworthiness in the eyes of those kept in the dark, and to increase mistakes made due to lack of timely, accurate information.
Developing Integrity
There are few organizations in the Western world that could survive with the allegations of mismanagement, scandal, and corruption that permeate the United Nations. For many delegates, officials, and employees, particularly those from developing nations, the UN is little more than an enormous watering hole.
Concerned about its shabby image, the UN recently developed a multiple-choice “ethics quiz” for its employees. The “correct” answers were obvious to everyone [
Is it all right to steal
from your employer? (A) Yes, (B) No, (C) Only if you don’t get
caught
].
168
S N A K E S I N S U I T S
The quiz was not designed to determine the ethical sense of UN employees or to weed out the ethically inept, but to raise their level of integrity. How taking a transparent test could improve integrity is unclear. There has been no mention of how management and other officials did on the test.
Secrecy is the pretender’s friend. The success of psychopathic manipulation, especially in large groups of people, depends on maintaining a cloak of secrecy about what is really going on. A culture of secrecy in an organization makes it much easier for pretenders to hide and much harder for management to catch them in their lies, to accurately rate their performance, or to see the abuse they heap on coworkers. To the degree that transitioning organizations increase their level of secrecy, they run the risk of providing cover to pretenders who have entered their ranks.
Try as she might, Dorothy couldn’t get the ringing out of her ear.
Her eyes opened, and she realized she was in her bed at home and the phone was ringing.
“Hello,” she said sleepily, opening her eyes slightly to see the clock radio.
“Who is this? Dave? It’s eight o’clock in the morning, Dave. And it’s Sunday,” she recalled falling back on her pillows, the phone next to her ear. “What’s going on?
“Yes, you woke me up,” she groaned. “I was out last night. I didn’t get in until 2 A.M.
“Of course, I’m alone,” she said, absentmindedly. “Jeez, Dave.
Mind your own business.
“What?” she asked, not understanding what Dave was saying.
“Can’t this wait until tomorrow?”
170
S N A K E S I N S U I T S
Dave began his story.
“What does the executive committee meeting have to do with me?” she questioned, sitting up. “Why should I—”
Dave cut her off. He explained that Frank was in a bind because he didn’t have a presentation for the upcoming meeting. John, Frank’s boss, was disappointed in his ideas for the upcoming year and wanted a whole new presentation by Monday. Frank called Dave, desperately needing his help. Dave saw this as the perfect opportunity for Dorothy to get her material in front of those who counted.
As Dave’s words slowly sank in, she got out of bed. “You want what?” she said, heading to the kitchen to put on some coffee. “Let me get this straight: John’s pissed at Frank because Frank’s new product idea sucks, and you want me to give you my stuff so you could give it to John? Am I getting this right, Dave?”
Dave continued.
“I’m not interested, Dave,” interrupted Dorothy. “My boss hasn’t even seen my project. Why should I give it to you for Frank or John or whoever?”
Dave explained his plan further.
“Oh, sure you’re going to put my name on it,” she said, rolling her eyes. “I wasn’t born yesterday; I know how you operate.”
Dorothy watched the coffee drip as Dave persisted in telling her that this was her best chance to get her ideas in front of the executive committee and with both Frank’s and John’s support.
“I really don’t relish the thought of your giving my presentation to the committee, no matter how ‘opportune’ the time,” she said, getting a clean cup from the cupboard.
Dave explained further.
“You’re not giving the presentation? Then, who is?”
“Frank is going to give my presentation—as his own?”
“As ours, yours and, mine, then? Mm-hmm.”
“Why would Frank want to present my project ideas—sight un-seen, I might add—to his boss, just because you ask him to?”
Let’s Do Lunch
171
Dave responded.
“It must be nice to be so trusted by your boss, Dave. I’m really not interested,” she said, pouring her coffee and taking a sip.
“Yes, Dave, I’m your friend,” she said, not believing Dave would be using this tactic. “And, you’re my friend. And the only reason you called—not for Frank or John or the good of the company—is to help out your friend Dorothy.”
Dave interrupted again, telling her that she could be the hero, and Frank would be indebted. Frank would never challenge any of her future ideas, and she may even get a promotion as a result of the exposure of her work to the executive committee.
Dorothy took another sip of coffee and thought. “How do I know I can trust you, Dave?” she asked, intrigued in spite of herself.
“Together? We’ll put the presentation together—together, you and I. I get to put my name on it. You’ll tell Frank the idea was mine.”
Dave responded to each of her concerns, reassuring her at every step. Dave responded to her voice, but sang to her heart.
“Yes, I have my computer at home. Why, what are you thinking?
You want to come here? Today? To work on . . . in your dreams, Dave,” she said exasperatedly.
Dave continued. No, he wasn’t going to hit on her. No, he wasn’t going to tell everyone he had been to her apartment. Yes, he would bring lunch.
“Hmmmm,” sighed Dorothy. “I’ll tell you what, Dave. You can come over and we will work on this together. But, if I change my mind anytime while we’re working, the deal’s off. Got it?”
Smith charged down the hall toward his office. Marching past the staff without a glance, he reached the door and barked for his secretary to have Jones come to his office immediately. His face getting red, Smith threw the files in his hands down onto the desk and dropped into his big chair with a huff.
Minutes later Jones arrived, half knowing what to expect, but not knowing why. There were stories about Smith’s calling staff members into his office to read them the riot act after a senior management meeting, but since Jones’s projects were not on the agenda, this couldn’t be the reason for the summoning. So far all her interactions with Smith had been cordial; there was no reason to suspect a change.
Smith’s secretary greeted Jones and led the way to the office door. Smith motioned Jones to enter and the door was closed behind
174
S N A K E S I N S U I T S
them. The secretary went back to her desk and resumed typing on her computer. She glanced at the staff member sitting at the desk to her left and the staff member to her right and sighed. Everyone knew what was about to happen.
The “scoldings,” as the support staff called them, occurred roughly once a week, usually on Friday afternoons after the morning senior management meeting. Smith was never happy after these meetings, but no one was sure why, as the minutes were kept quite secret. Obviously, someone was chewing him out at these meetings and he felt the need to take it out on members of his staff; how else could the staff explain it?
Jones was a very likable person. She was the newest addition to the staff and had come to the firm with outstanding references and portfolio. She was always nice to everyone, with a cheerful disposition and an even temperament. She had survived almost three months without being called to Smith’s office—an unofficial record by all accounts.