Would you recognize a psychopath if you met one? After all, not all psychopaths are criminal masterminds or serial killers. They could be a friend, a loved one, or, more likely, your boss.
About 1% of adults experience a lack of shame, guilt, or empathy toward others that identifies them as psychopaths. But although, as expected, the proportion of diagnosable psychopaths increases as 20% among the prison populationit is surprising to find a similar concentration among company heads.
Holly Andrews, associate professor of coaching and behavior change in Henley Business Schoolsays this suggests that psychopaths are more successful in a corporate environment than the average person, picks up the Daily Mail.
“Traits associated with successful leadership overlap to some extent with traits of psychopathy, e.g. the ability to influence and manipulate”he explains. “Psychopaths make good interview candidates because they are charming, able to tell compelling stories, and do not experience anxiety. They are also calm and confident in a crisis,” adds Andrews.
How to detect them
But in addition, there are other clues that can help us detect them. Dr. Steve Taylor, author of the book DisConnected: The Roots Of Human Crueltysays that traits that characterize a corporate psychopath can include recklessness, grandiosity, inability to admit mistakes, blaming others and an inability to work in a group because they always try to dominate.
But they are brilliant at hiding their flaws to get to the top, warns the doctor Tomasz Piotr Wisniewskiprofessor of finance at the Open University.
Psychopaths are masters of disguise and usually show themselves as good friends. Their exaggerated self-concept is often confused with charisma. “Psychopaths are also more likely to study business administration and management, since these careers allow them to control other people. “Psychopaths often exploit their younger colleagues and create chaos to cover up their misdeeds,” he adds.
There is less research on female psychopaths than male psychopaths, but Andrews says, “There is evidence that female psychopathy may be more subtle, particularly interpersonal traits. For example, manipulation seen in men is more likely to manifest as flirting in female psychopaths.”
What damage can they cause?
“In organizations where there are psychopaths, we see higher levels of harassment and conflict,” says Dr. Andrews. “They are associated with sabotage, theft and white collar crimes“, says.
They can have a “catastrophic effect”which includes damaging staff morale and the company’s reputation. “They cause low levels of job satisfaction, reduced productivity and high staff turnover. Part of the reason for this is that they are not even good at their jobs,” explains Dr Taylor. “In many cases, they are not particularly intelligent or astute,” he adds.
“While some business or political leaders may slowly rise to the top through their ability and determination, hyper-disconnected leaders “They just push their way to the top with their cruelty and cunning, like bullies pushing their way to the front of a line, knowing that other people are too afraid to stop them,” Taylor says.
How to deal with them?
If you have no choice but to work with a corporate psychopath, Andrews says you need to understand that they will always prioritize personal gain, so see if you can. “align what is of your interest with what is of the organization.”
If you are their subordinate and you think they are trying to sabotage your work, add: “Be self-aware to know your weak points that could be used to manipulate you, keep communication open with as many colleagues as you can so you don’t become isolated by the psychopath.
If you’re trying to manage someone who is a psychopath, “you have to get them on your side rather than exerting authority to work with them. If you have someone in a leadership position, you can put a ‘counterattack partner’ at his sidesomeone who has opposite traits. But the psychopathic individual would have to trust him or he could end up being kicked out of the group,” adds Dr. Andrews.
Finally, instead of having a culture that focuses solely on the end result, we must value the process, openness and honesty. In this way, “it is less easy for someone with psychopathic traits to integrate into that situation,” he concludes.