It was an article in the July 2005 edition of Fast Company, entitled "Is Your Boss a Psychopath?", that first made me realize that psychopaths aren't all housed in prisons for unspeakable crimes. They aren't all clinically diagnosable with a mental disorder. Most are highly-functioning individuals in society, and the corporate world actually provides them an environment in which they not only survive, but in which they thrive.
I've known a few; so have you.
But there's another aspect of psychopathy (or sociopathy) that most people aren't aware of. Psychopaths are widely believed to be people who are incapable of empathy; they are thought to be without consciences; incapable of feeling. But such a person, incapable of emotional connection to society, would effectively be autistic, unable to relate to others and function normally in social environments. That's not the psychopath you're likely to come into contact with. The psychopath you need to watch out for is totally socially connected and that person understands you and understands how you feel. He/she knows your emotional state, probably better than you do. That's how they can game it, that's why they are the perfect con-artists. It's why they rose to the top of the corporate ladder.
Roughly ten years ago, CBC's Doc Zone had an interesting segment on psychopaths in general society: https://vimeo.com/113685662 That's 45 minutes long but I think you might enjoy just the 5 minutes of it between 11m and 16m, on psychopaths in the workplace.
If you work for a corporation; learn to identify those people ... they know you for who you are; they despise your attempts to do what is right and good. Why not learn to identify them, by their behaviours?
Learn to identify them. It's basic self-defense in the corporate world.
I'm 68 years old; I've worked in some of the world's largest international corporations. I am no stranger to psychopathy.
Do you think you've never met a psychopath? Think again. And, for heaven's sake, watch your back.
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Charles
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