Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work (2 page)

This book will help you peel back the layers covering the psychopath’s personality. We will approach this task in several ways, leading the reader toward an understanding of what makes psychopaths tick and what behaviors can be observed in the office that might provide clues as to their true nature. We will follow the exploits of “Dave,” one of the first corporate psychopaths documented in the scientific literature, as he weaves his web of deceit. His ability to present himself as a rising star and corporate savior, all the while abusing his coworkers and eventually the company, will be made transparent. We will also explain in some detail what the current thinking is about psychopathic behavior in organizations, illustrating specific traits with examples and short case histories taken from real life. This book will introduce you to the way these “snakes in suits”

manipulate others; it will help you see through their games and give you pointers on how to protect yourself, your career, and your company.

We consider it important to caution the reader that, although the topic of this book is psychopathy in the workplace, not everyone
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described herein is a psychopath. The “snakes” we describe are not based on actual persons, and any resemblance to such persons, living or dead, is purely coincidental. Rather, they are profiles of generic psychopaths based upon composites of psychopathic characteristics derived from published reports, the news media, and our own research about such personalities. While we do at times refer to actual persons, such as in the sidebars, we do so only because the person’s behavior is either consistent with the concept of psychopathy or illustrates a key trait or behavior that is typical of the disorder. While these individuals may or may not be psychopaths, their reported behavior provides a useful vehicle for elaborating the various traits and behaviors that define psychopathy. The reader should not assume that an individual is a psychopath simply because of the context in which he or she is portrayed in this book.

ACT I, Scene I

GRAND ENTRANCE

One could imagine he was arriving at a GQ photo shoot, judging by his smooth, strong, and confident entrance. As interview suits went, his was the finest. His smile was broad and toothy, his shirt crisp and white, and, well, the whole package was perfection.

“Hi, I’m Dave. I’m here to see Frank,” he said to the receptionist, who had already noticed him, as had the other young women who had positioned themselves unobtrusively in the lobby. “I’ll ring him, sir. Please have a seat,” she replied. “It’s good to see you again,”

she smiled. And it certainly was, she thought, as she smiled to herself and glared at her competition.

“Hi, Dave, good to see you again,” rang Frank’s voice, beaming from across the room as he approached Dave. “How was the trip in?”

“Fine, pleasant,” stated Dave as he gave a firm handshake.

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“We have a couple more interviews for you today,” said Frank.

“Just some human resources folks, and a meeting with my boss, our vice president, and then lunch and a tour of the surrounding community.”

“Great, I’m ready to get started,” Dave said.

Garrideb Technologies was one of those high-tech companies, born in a garage in the Midwest, that had skyrocketed to success beyond the wildest dreams of its founders. Because of the company’s in-credible growth, changes to the organization were sorely needed, not the least of which was the need to hire more staff. The management team went for the best talent available to keep up with the growing demands for their products and services. Few candidates had résumés with the specialized education and experience they needed, but Dave did.

The HR interviews went better than these interviews usually go.

HR types tend to probe more deeply into the motivations of people than do the department interviewers, and ask for too many details about past jobs and references, but Dave was polite. “I’ll stay as long as you need me,” he said, smiling, “so whatever you need, please, that’s why I’m here.” After they were through, the HR assistant escorted Dave to the executive wing.

“Welcome, Dave, I’m glad to finally meet you,” stated John, the vice president of new products, noting the attractive tie against Dave’s starched shirt. “How was your trip in?”

“Excellent,” stated Dave, “this is a beautiful part of the country.

I can’t wait to take a better look around. Your facilities are extraordinary; I’ve never seen such architecture.”

“Thanks,” responded John. “We try to make it comfortable for our staff. Success has its rewards, and we don’t skimp on creature comforts.”

“I’ve heard a bit about your strategic plan from Frank, and I’ve read the company brochure, but I’d like to get the details from you, as the major strategist of the company’s success. How did you do all of this?” inquired Dave. Pleased with Dave’s interest in the company’s future, he took some slides from a binder on his bookshelf to
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show Dave some graphs. John launched into his exposition on his plan. “Unbelievable! You really have done a great job orchestrating everything,” exclaimed Dave.

John was pleased to interact with someone who, despite his age, understood so well the intricacies of building a business. He pushed aside the suggested interview questions HR had prepared for him and asked Dave to tell him about himself. Dave obliged eagerly by describing his work history, giving plenty of examples reflecting John’s respect for hard work and diligence. The extent of Dave’s experience was—at age thirty-five—impressive, documented by a ré-

sumé and a portfolio most would work a career to achieve.

The interview with John went exceptionally well. As the interview ended, Dave extended his hand, smiled, and said, looking straight into John’s eyes, “Thank you so much for your time. I look forward to working closely with you; I know I can help you realize your strategic vision.”

“The pleasure was mine; I hope to see you again,” answered John. John’s secretary escorted Dave back to the lobby to wait for Frank. One could not ask for a better candidate, thought John as he dialed up Frank with his approval.

Frank grabbed his jacket, but as he reached the door of his office on his way to pick up Dave for lunch, his phone rang, “I’d like us all to get together later today to discuss Dave’s candidacy,” said the HR

director.

“Oh, Melanie, that won’t be necessary. John and I just agreed to offer Dave the job; I’m going to take him to lunch and make him the offer.”

“But we agreed to get all the interviewers together to discuss each candidate thoroughly; and we wanted to bring back Tom, the guy from New York, for a second look also,” she reminded Frank.

“That won’t be necessary; clearly, one could not ask for a better candidate than Dave,” he said as he hung up. Frank was happy to have found someone with the right fit for both the job and the organization, and he didn’t want this one to get away.

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Over lunch, Frank made the offer to Dave. Dave pushed back at the original salary offer, which was actually high in the range, and Frank agreed to sweeten the pie with a sign-on bonus and review in six months.

Frank was very pleased when Dave accepted the enhanced offer.

Seeing leadership potential in him, Frank knew that Dave’s style, intelligence, and technical expertise made him an ideal management candidate in this successful, rapidly growing high-tech firm. Everyone who interviewed Dave thought he was perfect; one of the people from the lab even stated that he was “too good to be true.” Dave would start working for Frank in two weeks.

This scene is growing more common as companies accelerate their hiring practices to attract, hire, and retain new, high-potential talent before their competitors do. Gone are the days of the painstaking vetting process. Competition is fierce and qualified candidates few.

Business now moves swiftly, and common wisdom is that those who hesitate lose. But was Dave a good hire?

We’ll follow Dave and others through this book, and explore what makes them so attractive, yet so potentially damaging to an organization. We’ll describe how they get in and how they move up the organization into positions of increasing power and influence, where the damage they can do to the organization and its members can be significant. We’ll then offer suggestions to employees and coworkers who might be potential targets, and to managers and executives on how to secure the organization from unscrupulous manipulation.

How would you describe Dave’s personality? Would you hire Dave?

1

Nice Suit. Would a Snake

Wear Such a Nice Suit?

Fred led the group to O’Hare’s tavern after work that night. He started a tab and ordered a round of drinks for everyone from the company. As more people arrived, there were cheers and high-fives as coworkers rejoiced about their good fortune. Fred raised his glass in a toast. Silence spread over the group as everyone turned toward him with a raised glass: “The Pit Bull is dead. Long live the Pit Bull!” he shouted to the glee of everyone there.

“Hear, hear!” they cheered as glasses were emptied and bursts of laughter and applause overtook the room. There was not a sad person in the place that night; quite a change from most Friday nights at O’Hare’s over the past two years.

Things at the company had been good up until the Pit Bull arrived. Raises were excellent, bonuses generous, working condi-6

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tions pleasant, and the chance to work for one of the oldest and most respected names in the business was personally rewarding to many. Nevertheless, as with all good things, there was change. The CEO, “Old Man Bailey” to his friends (and most employees were his friends), had sold his financial services company to a bigger competitor two years back. However, like so many career executives, he just could not see himself quietly fading away, but needed to keep his hands in the business, so he negotiated an interim consulting position on the board to assist with the transition.

The board welcomed his advice and felt comfortable with his occasional visits to his former company’s (now a division) headquarters. Bailey wanted to keep the old values he had impressed upon his people alive in the company, and hoped that they would spread to the other parts of the bigger corporation, but this was not to be. Being part of a big corporation meant that there were now many divisions and locations, and his little piece of the corporate world, as well as his ability to influence, was lessening with each acquisition. Other divisions had their own values, service lines, and ways of doing things, and the corporate staff had their own ideas about what the overall company culture ought to be like.

Although he made a point of staying out of the day-to-day running of the business, one decision in particular that bothered Bailey was the promotional transfer of Gus, a “hotshot whiz kid” according to Bailey, into the top slot as COO of the division. Bailey saw Gus as a status-conscious suck-up who hated holding people accountable, avoided confrontation, preferred to get others to do his dirty work, and was rather susceptible to flattery and attention. Bailey thought Gus spent too much time meeting with the corporate folks and not enough time getting things done in his division.

Soon pitchers of beer and bowls of peanuts were spread out over the tables in O’Hare’s back room, where the group discussed the de-Nice Suit. Would a Snake Wear Such a Nice Suit?

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tails of the Pit Bull’s termination. As staff from different departments mingled, those who had heard only some of the rumors sought out more information; others wanted confirmation of the details they had heard. It was great fun to collect different bits and pieces of the story and try to assemble a picture of what had really happened.

Six months into Gus’s tenure, all hell broke loose. For the first time in its long history, Bailey’s division had failed to meet its targets, so much so that the market analysts were starting to make unflattering comments, endangering the reputation of the whole corporation. Making things worse, there was also the risk of a hefty, very public, and humiliating fine for noncompliance on some government work—a fact that had not reached the newspapers yet, but was sure to make headlines if not averted quickly. Bailey felt that Gus ought to be let go, and offered to run the place until a suitable, better-qualified candidate could be found. The corporate executive committee disagreed. In an effort to help Gus and be fair to him in his new role, they decided to create a new director of operations position reporting to him.

One person who caught their attention as the perfect internal candidate for the job was Helen. Helen had joined one of the other acquisitions only a year before and rose to stardom overnight. Her performance review praised her spirit, diligence, focus, energy, and natural ability. She demonstrated her worth to her management, building a reputation for making things happen, for successful project management, and for meeting deadlines. Admittedly, some collateral damage occurred along the way, but that did not seem to concern her management team, who put her on the key management watch list. Yet, despite the glowing reviews from her management, her division was expanding its head count and underperforming, all the while requesting and receiving approval for larger budgets two years in a row. Bailey wondered how the corporate folks could
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ignore these numbers and put someone who was used to spending money in charge of a financial problem. But then, these were no longer his decisions to make.

Helen did very well in the exploratory interview with the search committee. Her dynamic and engaging manner and her self-proclaimed ability to fix organizational problems—which the division certainly had—made her an obvious choice for the spot. Outside analysts would also see the appointment of such an assertive, vibrant, and directive person to a failing high-profile division as a very firm commitment to meeting the government’s regulatory requirements. Her style and her manner matched what both the corporation and analysts wanted to see. The timing, the circumstances, and her abilities seemed like a good fit.