|
Interesting item from yesterday's
Globe&Mail. I know what the writer is talking about - was
there once very early in my career.
Ed
Globeandmail.com
CAREER KILLERS Do you work for a psychopath? At least 1 per cent of people in power fit the personality type. Even scarier, they're often protected by employers because they're so driven to succeed, WALLACE IMMEN Wednesday, August 17, 2005 You feel your back muscles stiffen as, once again, your manager claims all the credit for a project you've completed by working nights for weeks. Your chest tightens as he smiles his way through the celebration meeting with colleagues, boasting about his efforts and dumping all over you. The goose bumps rise when he then appears at your door with another impossible demand -- and you know he'll put all the blame on you when things go wrong. It sure seems like your boss is out to kill your career -- literally. And he probably is, if you happen to be working for a psycho in a suit. Vancouver researcher Robert Hare estimates that at least one out of every 100 people you work for or with are so unabashedly self-centred and manipulative that a psychological examination would classify them as psychopaths. "A psychopath is a personality type that can become a cold-blooded murderer -- but can also become a determined chief executive," Dr. Hare says. Such corporate psychopaths may not be prone to physical violence but they sure can destroy the careers of those around them. Psychopaths "play ruthlessly to win and show no remorse about stealing credit and sabotaging competitors to get ahead," says Dr. Hare, president of Vancouver-based Darkstone Research Group Ltd., who retired last year from the University of British Columbia. While a psychopathic population of 1 per cent -- with another 2 or 3 per cent estimated to be on the borderline -- might not seem that high, these people wield inordinate power over others because they rise quickly to positions of authority, he says. So your psychopathic co-worker can easily become your psychopathic boss. Even scarier, companies often encourage and protect psychopaths because they are so driven to succeed. "This is probably one of the most difficult dilemmas employees in an organization have to face," says Jeff Davidson, a consultant with Victor Apa & Associates, a career-transition and leadership-development firm in Toronto. "Such totally self-centred people become bullies who always shift the blame when things go wrong to someone under their control." Among the tip-offs that you are working with a psycho are personal arrogance and continual efforts to discredit and put down others, says Stephen Stein, president of Multi-Health Systems Inc. in Toronto. By nature, they lack an ethical compass and are able to lie to co-workers and customers with a straight face while stealing all the credit. "Your career will be stunted if you stay in constant contact with someone who acts like this," Mr. Stein warns. "It can literally become so difficult and destructive, your only option will be to leave and look for a job elsewhere." How can you tell if you're working with or for a psychopath? Mr. Stein's company, the largest Canadian publisher of employment tests, is about to market an emotional intelligence test that identifies psychopathic tendencies. He hopes companies will administer it to managers and candidates applying for executive positions. The test looks for 16 "red flags" that identify psychopathic behaviour. These 16 traits fall into four categories: In their personal style, they are: insecure, arrogant, untrustworthy and manipulative. Emotionally, they are: insensitive, remorseless, shallow and blaming. Working with others, they are: impatient, erratic, unreliable and unfocused. Their social behaviour is: selfish, dramatic, unethical and bullying. Some of the traits are not always easy to see. Psychopaths can become adept at masking their red-flag behaviours from those they most want to manipulate, says Paul Babiak, an industrial psychologist and principal of HRBackOffice Inc. in Hopewell Junction, N.Y. In the 1998 revision of his book Without Conscience, Dr. Hare describes a consulting study done by Dr. Babiak for a U.S. electronics company. Its manager, who Dr. Babiak calls Dave, had bitterly divided the staff. "Half thought he was a great leader and the other half thought Dave was the devil incarnate," Dr. Babiak recalls. Over the next few years, Dr. Babiak followed Dave's career. As a junior executive, Dave had been stealing company inventory and selling it for his profit. At one point, a vice-president discovered the scheme and recommended to the chief executive officer that Dave be fired. But the manipulative and lying Dave had been shamelessly buttering up the CEO and he accused the vice-president of wrongdoing instead, Dr. Babiak says. The CEO backed Dave, who ended up getting promoted over the vice-president, whose career stalled. Dave was eventually given a diagnostic test and scored as being highly psychopathic. Mr. Stein believes that companies should want to identify psychopaths in their organization because they have great potential to become scam artists or stock manipulators or push questionable, self-motivated ventures that can cripple a company's long-term health. And because such people are born with these personality traits, their behaviour is unlikely to mellow with time or change with coaching. |
_______________________________________________ Futurework mailing list [email protected] http://fes.uwaterloo.ca/mailman/listinfo/futurework
