What to Do When You Have an Employee Who is a Snake in a Suit

written on June 29, 2009 by Ingeborg Hrabowy

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Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work.  Who are the "Rotten Eggs" in Your Organization?

This title may sound extreme, but believe me, truth is stranger than fiction.  Who are your in-house employee "rotten eggs"?  I am referring to psychopaths that you, your HR department or you company may have inadvertently hired.  Why are their actions so damaging and why are psychopaths so difficult to identify?

Psychopaths leave a wake of destruction in their path.  They are particularly dangerous because they have NO conscience.  Furthermore, they delight in duping others.  And their actions are more than gags and childs play.  Their actions are premeditated, manipulative and cold-blooded.  They can easily, readily, skillfully, and disdainfully take down your organization by creating internal feuds, revealing insider or company secrets, engage in white collar crime, and even commit murder.  And they won't lose a nights sleep over any of it.  If anything, they'll dazzle themselves with their own brilliance and skill.    

And it is for this reason precisely that they are so dangerous and difficult to identify.  They are socially adept, skillful, interpersonally poised, likeable, charming and street smart.  It's no wonder that these skills are often the skills that are valued by organizations and these are the individuals receiving promotions.  Get this - even though only 1% of psychopaths exist in the population - and you brush up against them every day without even realizing it, yet 3/12% of psychopaths make it to the corporate boardroom.  

Their behavior is beyond selfish and manipulative and they view themselves as beyond reproach.  They will use whatever means, which they can easily justify in their minds, to meet their goals.  They use and discard people as trash to cunningly meet their objectives.  Their whole life is a con game.  They are exceptionally gifted liars.

Don't get stuck in their con.  And don't feel badly if you've been duped.   First piece of advice, screen these individuals so they don't get hired into your organization.  An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  Second, if you suspect you have a con in your organization, seek a consultation with a certified conflict couselor, to beat them at their own game - and successfully have them exit the organization with the minimum amount of damage.  This requires a thoroughly thought through and laid out game plan with planning and strategy.

Do seek outside guidance because these individuals are dangerous and they do have violent tendencies.  A psychopath would have no qualms about shooting you if you accidentally ran over their dog - and then sit down for breakfast.  Although you should exercise care and proceed with caution in your interactions, it doesn't mean you need to be taken to the cleaners.

 

Ingeborg Hrabowy, Ph.D.

Consulting Psychologist