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Zusammenfassung von Snakes in Suits

Name: Snakes in Suits
Rating: 4.1 (83 reviews)
Author: Paul Babiak and Robert D. Hare

Paul Babiak and Robert D. Hare

When Psychopaths Go to Work

4.1 (83 Bewertungen)

19 Min.

Kurz zusammengefasst

"Snakes in Suits" by Paul Babiak and Robert D. Hare is a captivating study of psychopaths in the workplace.
It delves into the traits and tactics of these unscrupulous individuals and provides valuable insights on how to protect oneself from their harmful behavior.

Themen

Manipulation

Inhaltsübersicht

Snakes in Suits
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What’s in it for me? Protect yourself from the predators in our midst.

Do you know people at work who lie constantly for apparently no good reason? Do they also seem slick and charming, but really just work people like tools to get what they want? Do they avoid responsibility and act impulsively? Do they take credit for the work of others?

If so, that person might be a psychopath. Not all psychopaths wind up in jail; some wheedle their way into big corporations and become so-called corporate, or white-collar, psychopaths. Once they’re in, they manipulate their bosses, colleagues and subordinates to get what they want while destroying everyone in their way.

In the following blinks, you’ll find out what psychopaths are like and why they’re able to easily identify and take advantage of your weaknesses, even if you’re a trained psychologist.

You’ll also discover the simple divide-and-conquer tactics psychopaths use to manipulate their way into power in a company while keeping coworkers and bosses in the dark about their true nature.

Finally, you’ll discover how you can prepare yourself for the unfortunate event of having a psychopath in your life. Because although they’re a rare occurrence, it’s likely you’ll meet one sooner or later, and you don’t want to become their lunch.

Not all psychopaths are violent serial killers.

For most people, the mention of the word “psychopath” evokes images of serial killers and evil villains from movies, like the disturbing character of Dr. Hannibal Lecter. But how accurate of a depiction is that, really?

Some one percent of the general population fit the criteria of the personality disorder known as psychopathy. We will dive into the traits of such individuals soon, but first we must acknowledge that there is some truth to the Hollywood image: psychopaths do tend to be more violent and prone to criminality than the general population.

Though they represent only one percent of the general population, they are responsible for over half the serious and violent crimes that occur in society. Their violence is especially chilling since it tends to lack any emotional component; rather it's usually a cold means to an end.

However, not all psychopaths are violent criminals and, in fact, the definition and diagnosis of psychopathy is a complicated and difficult matter. Perhaps the best description can be extracted from a diagnostic tool called the Psychopathy Checklist Revised (PCL-R).

The checklist states that psychopathic behavior is exhibited as abnormalities in four domains of personality. In each domain, the specific psychopathic traits can be identified as follows:

In the interpersonal domain, psychopaths are superficial, deceitful and grandiose.

In the emotional domain, psychopaths lack empathy, remorse and the ability to take any responsibility for their actions.

In the lifestyle domain, psychopaths tend to lack life goals and act in a very irresponsible and impulsive way in general.

Finally, in the antisocial domain, psychopaths typically have a history of lacking behavioral control, evidenced by delinquency in adolescence and adulthood.

These traits paint a compelling picture of remorseless, impulsive predators who take what they want and care little for the rules of society.

However, a word of caution: readers should not jump to conclusions about themselves or someone else being a psychopath based on these criteria, as only qualified professionals can make such diagnoses, and even perfectly normal people may exhibit several of these traits.

There’s a predator hunting you.

Unfortunately, sooner or later, you’re likely to meet a psychopath. When this happens, you’ll probably have no idea who you’re dealing with.

Most psychopaths wind up in prison because they lack the skills to manipulate people to get what they want, forcing them to resort to a more direct approach: violence. But psychopaths who are not incarcerated are much more subtle and capable manipulators. They often use the following three-stage process:

Psychopaths can wear suits and ties.

Just like any other predator, a psychopath also knows where to find his victims.

Favorite targets include affinity groups like charities or religions, because such groups are built on mutual trust, which is easy to take advantage of.

Are you valuable to a psychopath?

Once psychopaths have entered an organization, they start assessing the utility of everyone there. This is made easier by the fact that new employees are actually expected to actively seek out and meet everyone in the company in their first months. Psychopaths can thus easily assess the utility of coworkers, bosses and support staff, and then charm the relevant ones.

Of course, all new employees try to be charming when, for example, they meet their boss for the first time – that’s normal. The difference is that psychopaths have no intent of ever delivering any actual work.

The organizational environment also hinders the psychopath.

In addition to pawns and patrons, psychopaths also put people in companies into other categories.

If a psychopath sees that an employee has no utility to offer, that person is deemed a low-utility observer, and ignored. This means that, in fact, such employees are in a uniquely objective position to observe the psychopath and realize that he’s manipulating others. Unfortunately, few voice these concerns to management because they fear the psychopath’s or his patron’s influence.

Psychopaths should be stopped at the gates.

How can organizations protect themselves when psychopaths come charging at their gates?

Naturally, the best defense is to never let them in at all, so the interviewers who make hiring decisions have a great responsibility.

You can defend yourself.

If you’re unlucky enough to become the target of a psychopath, you are in for a wild, emotionally draining and eventually devastating ride. Most likely, you won’t realize what you’re dealing with until it’s too late, but there are a few ways to prepare yourself.

First, know your enemy: learn about psychopathy. Understand the traits of a psychopath to see past their “mask” of normality. However, be careful you don’t start diagnosing people around you, especially not based on a mere few traits. It takes a qualified professional to make such judgments, and the “psychopath” label is too serious to be wielded carelessly.

What if you run into one at the water cooler?

Now that you know that corporate psychopaths exist, you may well want to know what you can do when you meet one at work? Besides the tips presented in the previous blink, the work environment presents a few additional considerations.

First, as always, relationships and reputation are important, but especially so when dealing with a psychopathic boss or coworker. You should also try to build a reputation as a high performer. By always doing your best, you build a solid reputation against any rumors the psychopath may spread about you, and also stop him from using any poor performance against you.

Final Summary

The key message in this book:

Not all psychopaths are in prison: many of them put on suits and roam corporate offices. They use their incredible impression management skills to charm victims and extract whatever favors they want, often rapidly advancing up the corporate ladder at the expense of their colleagues and the company. The only hope for those involved is to quickly spot these predators before they destroy the organization.

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Worum geht es in Snakes in Suits?

Snakes in Suits (2006) examines what happens when a psychopath doesn’t wind up in jail, but instead puts on a suit and gets a job. The book outlines the tactics these predators use, how they damage companies and how you can protect yourself.

Wer Snakes in Suits lesen sollte

Anyone who thinks their boss, colleague, subordinate, friend or partner may be a psychopath
Anyone who wants to know how to protect themselves or their company from the destructive influence of psychopaths

Über den Autor

Paul Babiak, Ph.D, is an organizational psychologist who specializes in management development. His work has been featured in the New York Times and Harvard Business Review.

Robert D. Hare, Ph.D, is an emeritus psychology professor at the University of British Columbia and considered one of the world’s foremost experts on the phenomenon of psychopathy.

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