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©
Copyright Insight Matters corporate psychologists, except where
otherwise indicated
Is Your Boss a Corporate Psychopath?
Do these
characteristics sound familiar?
-
Superficially
charming, even warm
-
Extreme
intimidation of others, especially behind the safety of
closed doors
-
Impulsive
behaviour
-
Manipulative and
controlling
-
Self-obsessed
-
Lack of remorse -
even apparent satisfaction or pleasure - from damaging
others
Yes? Then
you possibly have been, or currently are, working with a
corporate psychopath.
Contrary to
popular perception, psychopathology is not always about
murderousness. It is defined broadly as
'callous behaviour without normal
feelings of empathy or guilt'. And there's a
surprising amount of it about.
According to a
recent report on the ABC's Catalyst program, one woman in 200 is
classifiable as a psychopath, as is one man out of every 50 -
overall,
approximately one person in 80. This means that every
large organisation has several of them. Chances are, you
have a number of psychopaths in your building.
Worse,
many companies may be unwittingly
selecting in favour of psychopathology, especially when
recruiting executives. Their charm,
fearlessness and "whatever it takes" attitude can win over even
experienced interviewers. With increasing job turnover
they can march up the ranks at great speed.
Consequently, the
chance of psychopaths holding senior positions in industry and
government is disquietingly high. We only have to consider
the great wars of history, acts of national aggression in our
own lifetimes, and examples of extraordinary corporate
self-interest, to see the quantity and power of the pathology
that we have allowed to slip past the sentries. Criminals
in neckties.
Says Stephanie
Thompson, Chief Psychologist at Insight Matters, "On our Team
Types profile we have a scale called 'Dominator'. These
people are very dynamic and get things moving, so they seem
attractive. However, I also warn that they can
get the wrong things moving, because they intimidate and
destroy people psychologically as they go. It may look
like there's a lot of activity in their unit, but it's one step
forward and two steps back."
Closer investigation often reveals staff protecting a 'family
secret' of persistent abuse by their manager.
Fortunately or
unfortunately, Stephanie speaks from experience. "It's
really my fault that we have all these scales in our profiling
systems at Insight Matters! We have another one called "Directive Leadership"
which is just a polite term for this set of traits. My own
horrendous experience with such a person has made me acutely
cautious about the destructive power of hostile emotional
dysfunction."
How can someone
behave this way? Don't they just need interpersonal skills
training? Well, research on 'criminal' psychopaths
suggests that unfortunately this may just give them more effective
tools with which to manipulate and intimidate.
The problem is
that psychopaths don't have a normal response - or any response
- to others' emotional or physical pain. For most of us,
when we view emotive photographs such as someone who's very
upset, our brains respond. We feel, literally, some of
what the other person is feeling. Empathy is in fact a
physically measurable response - not some fluffy abstract
notion. It enables us to 'see inside' another person.
However,
psychopath brains don't respond this way - they don't light up.
That's how they are able to manipulate others. It's pure logic,
without any of the normal limits of self-censoring which would
otherwise protect others' feelings and rights.
What causes this
extreme hard-heartedness is a subject of much debate and
investigation. Childhood abuse is often cited, as are
illness, nutritional imbalances and genetics. Some cases
remain unexplained.
How can you avoid this?
Well, the bad news
is that psychopaths can be initially very hard to spot. If
you don't work closely with them you could remain unaware for a
long time. If you do work closely with one, others may not
believe you - "He seems so nice..."
That's why
360-degree Profiling is so useful to have as a standard
performance development tool. It
becomes suddenly very obvious that there are glaring
discrepancies between how staff perceive their manager and how
their peers or boss perceive them. It's a huge
clue.
However, "It all
really starts with recruitment", says Stephanie. "So many
problems could be avoided."
"I don't advocate
'clinical' profiling of job applicants, because there are laws
in many countries which prevent such generalised intrusiveness,
and I agree with that. However, there are a small number
of business tools [not clinical] like 'Expert Profiler' which
can at least give you big clues. There are specific
patterns of personality data which in my experience do a good
job of predicting problematic behaviour, and these tools are
fine to use in most normal employment situations."
What if it's
too late? You have a psychopath ... and he's your boss. Well,
for your own sake it may be easiest to leave. Yes, you
read that correctly. Your sanity and health are more
important than any job ever will be. But, before you go
down that route, please - please - tell someone in
authority about the problem. Just like abused children,
even adults can feel so beaten down and emotionally shattered at
the manipulative hands of a psychopathic or dysfunctional
manager, that they just don't tell anyone. You may feel as
though it might somehow be your fault after all. It isn't.
You are not crazy. Please ask for help.
Inspired by ABC's Catalyst
program, May 2005.
Also with
thanks to Peter Storey of the Macquarie Institute.
© Copyright Insight Matters 2005
Note:
Not everone who
displays some or all of these behaviours will necessarily be a true
'psychopath' by clinical definition. Some managers may simply
lack emotional maturity or understanding, which may respond to coaching.
Do not make your own diagnosis.
Related resources:
'Expert Profiler' and
360-degree profiling
Pre-employment Executive Profiling (Sydney)
Or talk to Stephanie Thompson
confidentially about assistance with 'people
problem'-solving: (02) 9969 7775 or
stephanie '@' insightmatters.com.
