MANAGING PEOPLE

Is Your Boss a Psychopath?

by Manfred F. R. Kets de Vries
JANUARY 07, 2014

The debauchery-laden film by Martin ScorseseThe Wolf of Wall Street is a prime example of
financial corruption, excess, and corporate greed. Its the rags to riches to rags story of a
hotshot, real-life New York stockbroker, Jordan Belfort, who conned his way through life,
starting at the bottom of the Wall Street pecking order and by the 1990s making millions
selling worthless stocks.

Belforts story is also a tale of complete disregard for others, of careless spending, and of a
raging drug and prostitute habit. His enormous success and affluence gave him the title The
Wolf of Wall Street. But in 1994, the fairy tale ended, with Belfort being banned from the
securities business for life, and being sent to jail for fraud and money laundering.

In cases like Belfort, it isnt always easy to distinguish between corporate genius and
psychopath. Frankly, its often a thin line that divides them. Some of these people rise to
astonishing heights, but in the process they cause enormous damage. They can poison the
workplace, putting the health of both their companies and staff at risk.

People who behave like this are what I call Seductive Operational Bullies (SOBs). Without
going so far as to commit murder or arson, but unburdened by the pangs of conscience that
moderate most peoples interactions with others, such people are psychopaths lite.

They can be found wherever power, status, or money is at stake. Outwardly normal,
apparently successful and charming, their lack of empathy, shame, guilt, or remorse can have
serious interpersonal repercussions and destroy organizations. Their chameleon-like qualities
mean they often reach top executive positions, especially in organizations that appreciate
impression management, corporate gamesmanship, risk taking, domination,
competitiveness, and assertiveness.

Of course, psychopaths have always been around. Many historical figures that committed
crimes against humanity fall within this category. But only a small subset of psychopaths
turns into violent criminals. What we need to realize is that there exist many less extreme
forms of psychopathy.

Seductive operational bullies are not blatantly violent or antisocial; their disturbing behavior
is not so in your face. They can be hard to spot, due to their manipulative personalities; they
are often hidden in plain sight. Indeed, many of the behaviors and qualities they exhibit,
that indicate mental problems in other contexts, actually appear quite appropriate in senior
executive positions.

Unlike fundamental psychopaths, born without the capacity to form emotional bonds (due to
possible genetic abnormalities), lite psychopaths are usually the products of their
childhoods. Their capacity for empathetic response may have been incapacitated due to
repeated disillusionment in their childhood, caused by physical or sexual abuse or other
forms of maltreatment. Over time, these negative environmental experiences may have led to
the deactivation or poor repair of normal human emotional, neurological pathways, resulting
in psychopathic behavior patterns.

Estimates vary, but perhaps 3.9 percent of corporate professionals could be described as
having psychopathic tendencies, a figure considerably higher than is found in the general
population. From these observations we can deduce that many people working in
organizations have a fair chance of having an experience with a pathological boss.

Unfortunately, most people working for seductive operational bullies lack the knowledge and
skills to effectively respond and deal with them. Either they dont understand the cause of
their problems, or they dont know how to fight back. To make matters worse, these
psychopathic executives usually have the dedication, focus, and business acumen to create at
least the appearance of success.

They are highly manipulative, discrediting others around them, deflecting the issue at hand
when confronted. They will threaten and distort the facts, all the while presenting
themselves as helpful and or working for the good of the company. They are very talented
at hiding their true motives, while making others look incompetent, uncooperative, or selfserving. The only thing that counts for these people is to win. They prey on peoples
emotional vulnerabilities.

So what can be done to prevent such people can causing havoc? Ideally, organizations should
fine-tune their recruitment procedures in order to avoid hiring them in the first place.
Scrutinize resumes for any anomalies and put the candidate through multiple interviews.
Seductive operational bullies have a tendency to tell interviewers what they think they want
to hear, and different interviewers can elicit different, sometimes contradictory, responses.

What if the psychopath is already on your staff? If you see talented people leaving a project or
a company, that may be a sign. A red flag should also go up if there are glaring discrepancies
between how direct reports and junior employees perceive an executive and how that
executives peers or boss perceive him or her. Lower-level employees are often on the
receiving end of a bosss psychopathic behavior and usually spot a problem much sooner than
senior management. Its also important to encourage teamwork, as thats something that
psychopaths dont feel comfortable with; theyll look for the door. And take steps to develop
a corporate culture in which junior employees are able to express concerns about their
colleagues and superiors without fear of reprisal.

Finally, if you are so unfortunate as to have a psychopath as your boss or even as CEO of the
company, recognize that you are unlikely to be able to get him or her to change. Attempting
an ouster is likely to be difficult and will jeopardize your own career. In this case, the best
course is not to stick around but to cut your losses, and move on.

Manfred F.R. Kets de Vries is the Distinguished Professor of Leadership Development and Organizational Change at
INSEAD in France, Singapore, and Abu Dhabi. His most recent book is Mindful Leadership Coaching: Journeys into
the Interior (Palgrave Macmillan, 2014).

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Tera Allas

a year ago

Very sound advice, not to mention an insightful analysis of a fascinating phenomenon.

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