Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work (27 page)

Carla hurried down the corridor, coffee in hand and file folders under her arm. She hated to be late for these meetings, but she had just received some new information that might help with the decision making today.

10:02, glared the large clock at the head of the room.

“Sorry I’m late,” said Carla, putting down her folders onto the conference table at her place. Pulling her wallet from her purse, she retrieved two dollars and placed them in the center of the table.

Despite all the changes the company had undergone during the past year, this one ceremony—a dollar a minute for lateness—was maintained. Some time-management consultants had recommended it years ago to the executive committee as a means of disciplining themselves, and it stuck. They just loved it; now every meeting involving directors and above is run by this rule. The pot, when the
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fine was a quarter a minute, used to come up to enough after a year to buy pizza for the entire company staff. Now, with inflation, the fine was up to a buck, but the resulting improvements in timeliness led to fewer pizzas overall.

“Glad we’re all here. Thank you,” said Johnson, the CEO. “You all interviewed Morgan and Tom for the new director of communications job, and this meeting is to share our impressions, review what information we got from references, et cetera, and make a decision.

Are we all on board with that?” he asked, looking around the room at the members of the selection team assembled in the conference room.

Heads nodded around the table.

Carla handed out two candidate packets to each member of the team. These contained the results of their interviews, reference checks, background checks, and assessments from the executive recruitment firm. “The cover sheet gives the summary of all that we have. I’ll give you a minute to read through it,” she said, as they perused the page while she took out some other notes from her pile.

“It’s pretty obvious that they’re in a dead heat according to the competency list. They both got high marks from their references on understanding the business, building external relationships, oral communication style, written communication, and business acumen.

Morgan did a bit better in problem solving and decision making overall, but one reference said he tended to take on too much of the detail work himself and didn’t delegate enough. Tom got the opposite review; he tended to delegate too much, sometimes handing off details his last boss thought he should have handled himself.”

“I got the same impression during my interviews,” said Nate, the hiring manager. “Tom told me he liked to develop his people, and delegation was a means to that end. Morgan didn’t seem to think doing it all himself was a problem; actually, he was quite proud of the fact. But then he didn’t have the same staff level as Tom.”

The conversation continued with a detailed review of the remaining competency areas. At the end of this topic, the two candidates were about even in their attractiveness to the group.

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“Any developmental areas mentioned?” asked Johnson, paging through the reports.

“Yes, on the next page you’ll see them listed. Tom hasn’t had much exposure to the rest of the business side; he’s primarily been in communications. Morgan, on the other hand, came to communications from a marketing background,” answered Carla, “so he’s had more exposure.”

“I like that about Morgan,” added Nate. “While Tom did have an appreciation for the business based on his MBA, Morgan could really talk to the day-to-day issues. I’d have to score him higher on that one.”

“How about Morgan; did he have any developmental areas?”

asked Johnson.

“Yes, he had very little supervisory experience in his career. He started as a market analyst and then moved up into a senior-level position, still as an individual contributor. He made a lateral switch to communications because they had an opening and he had always liked journalism,” responded Nate. “Morgan moved up twice in three years, but it was only in his last job that he got to supervise people.”

“So delegation would be one of his developmental areas,” added Carla, making a note on her file. “I did get some feedback on Tom’s style from one source, who suggested Tom was pretty tough on his people. No real information about Morgan’s management style from his references.”

“I spoke with Morgan at length about his supervisory style, and although he doesn’t have much hands-on experience, he said all the right things,” added Nate.

“I got the same impression,” said Carla. “Morgan came across with a lot of management theory, but he really didn’t have the experience.”

“Well, I think we can take care of that with some training,”

added Nate.

The group continued to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of each candidate, sharing their personal impressions as well as the data from the references.

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“How about their abilities to handle the media issues we’re facing. What are your thoughts?” he asked, looking toward Nate.

“Regarding Tom,” Nate started, “I liked the fact that he had quite a bit of media exposure and personally represented his company during one of their product crises. Morgan has had almost no face time with the media. He did, though, create a sophisticated communications plan, which I circulated to you about a week ago.”

“What did the tests show?” asked Johnson, referring to the bat-tery of psychological tests that every top-level candidate takes as part of the hiring process.

“Tom was more outgoing and assertive, almost too much so,” reported Carla, “and Morgan came out reserved, maybe not assertive enough. However, overall, the results were interesting.”

“Interesting?” asked Johnson, smiling. “That’s a new one. What do you mean by ‘interesting’?”

“Both came out well on conscientiousness, openness to ideas, intelligence, and socialization,” continued Carla, “but, surprisingly, Tom’s scores were the highest the consultant has ever seen in a businessperson.”

“Say more about that,” said Nate, moving forward in his seat.

“There are certain ranges we look for, specific to each open position. Morgan did well, high enough on all scales to be a good fit. But Tom got perfect scores on all the scales. I’m not really sure what that means, but I do wonder how he could have done so well.”

“Maybe he’s a perfect fit for us?” asked Nate.

Johnson looked at his watch and told the group that he had another appointment to prepare for. Getting up from his seat, he suggested they continue the meeting without him and asked them to let him know of their decision by the end of the day.

This chapter will focus on how the company can forestall the hiring and promotion of corporate psychopaths. While no procedure is a guarantee against manipulation, vigilance based on greater understanding can improve one’s defenses.

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We start by briefly summarizing the typical personnel procedures used by businesses to hire, promote, and manage employees. As we explain the process, we invite the reader to look for potential weak spots, cracks, or loopholes in these processes, where a psychopath might be able to slip through or operate unnoticed. We will also offer suggestions for closing some of these entry points.

Managing the human assets of an organization is one of the most challenging functions of the executive, and we suggest that doing it well is most critical when it comes to identifying and handling potentially problematic individuals. The human resources department of any company is responsible for many functions, including finding and hiring new employees, administering compensation and benefits issues, managing employee and (where applicable) union relationships, developing and providing employee orientation and training programs, administering the performance appraisal process, and management development. Some larger HR departments also provide advice and guidance to executives on change management issues, executive development and coaching, and succession or replacement planning.

Among the most critical functions, relating to both the handling of psychopaths and the long-term viability of the business, are hiring practices and succession planning systems.

Hiring and Selection: The First Line of Defense
The most value-adding HR management function centers on finding, attracting, and retaining the best performers. The purpose of any hiring process is to assess the qualifications of candidates and determine who can best do the work available. Stated another way, the goal is to find the best match between the abilities of the candidate and the needs of the business.

The hiring manager with a vacancy to fill, and coworkers who are filling the gap in the interim, sometimes wonder why it seems to take a long time to fill a job. The answer lies in the diligence required to
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make the right choice. During this screening process, the company is trying to determine if the candidate is the best one for the job, and the candidate is also deciding if he or she really wants to work for the hiring company. The hiring process is actually a series of screens or hurdles through which the candidate must pass before being offered a job.

In general, once someone has vacated a position, the hiring manager reviews the work to be done and possibly redefines some of the requirements contained in the job description. Job descriptions are almost never meant to cover all of a person’s duties, but they do include the most important. While formats vary considerably from company to company, the basic elements include a title; statement of role played in the organization; a list of duties or responsibilities; a list of the basic knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes (called KSAs) required for good performance; and sometimes a list of goals and related measurement standards. Writing a job description can be a tedious process, but it is critical to making a good hire and to weed-ing out those who are unqualified. Based on the job description, the hiring manager typically prepares a requisition that is a formal request to hire. At this point, many other people get involved, including compensation professionals, who decide the starting salary range; finance staff, who review the budget and head-count constraints; and, finally, members of upper management, who review and approve the hire.

The next step is to advertise the open position on a company job-posting board, or, more frequently, through ads in the newspaper, in professional magazines, or on the Internet. If the job is at a sufficient level, such as a senior manager, or requires very specific expertise, such as a high-level chemist, a professional recruitment firm may be retained to prescreen candidates.

Before the advent of the Internet, advertisements would lead to perhaps ten résumés being received. Today, Internet advertisements can lead to stacks of résumés or letters of interest from candidates.

The purpose of any résumé, from the candidate’s perspective, is to
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get the company’s attention and an invitation for an interview.

From the company’s perspective, the résumé is an initial screen.

Someone—usually an HR staff member—has to read all the ré-

sumés and whittle down the stack to those few that appear to be from viable candidates. Résumés are grouped into qualified, marginally qualified, not qualified, and, sometimes, overqualified. Ideally, a small number of viable résumés will be presented to the hiring manager, and then only a handful of candidates will be selected for further consideration.

SCREENING RÉSUMÉS

The major weakness in using a résumé as a screening device is, of course, the tendency for applicants to overstate or falsify their qualifications. It is common knowledge among executive recruiters that many of all executive résumés contain some form of distortion or outright lies—and these are the norm. Most of the exaggerations are in the areas of background experience and education. Some applicants claim more responsibility, greater financial accountability, enhanced job titles, and higher-level reporting relationships than they really had. Some pad their résumé with fake years of service, slurring dates to cover gaps that they cannot explain or jobs they wish to forget.

Fictional Résumés

“You can’t argue with the written word,” noted Pogo, an animal character in Walt Kelly’s comic strip, popular with college students several decades ago. The same folk wisdom was evident in a humorous radio dialogue of the same era, which used as proof of various assertions, “It’s in the book!” Unfortunately, the belief that if it is in writing it must be true is alive and well when it comes to evaluating an impressive-looking résumé. Surveys by
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those in the recruitment business indicate that about one third of résumés for managerial positions contained lies, that 15 percent of top executives lied about their education (degrees, dates), that friends often were passed off as former “bosses,” and that education, responsibilities, and compensation were exaggerated. No surprises here, but a few simple checks and verifications would have caught most of these fabrications.

In some cases, it is only the hiring company that suffers from fraudulent applicants. But in other cases, the applicant is a psychopath who, once hired, puts lives at risk. There are scores of such examples—think of the many movies that “star” an im-postor as medical doctor. Or consider the ease with which Sey-mour Schlager managed to become a top executive scientist at the largest medical device company in the United States. His ré-

sumé was impressive, listing his degrees and experience as a doctor, lawyer, Ph.D.-level microbiologist, and AIDS researcher.

What he didn’t indicate, though, was that he had been convicted of the attempted murder of his wife and that his medical license had been lifted. Much of his work experience was made up to cover over his time in prison. On at least one résumé sent to prospective employers, he listed as his return address the prison in which he was housed. Even the most cursory check would have disclosed this and other damaging information about who he really was. But such a check was not made.