I have been reading a chilling book called Snakes in Suits by Paul Babiak and Robert Hare. Hare is an authority on psychopaths and Babiak is an organizational psychologist with experience in the work force. A psychopath is totally lacking in the ability and desire to empathize, feel guilt, remorse or sympathy for others. They are predators who view their neighbors the way a Great White views a colony of sea lions basking on the beach.
Psychopaths are quick studies. They watch people in stressful situations and pick up on how to use emotional stories to get what they want. Hare advised Nicole Kidman on her film Malice. She was interested to know the behavior of a psychopath. Hare gave her this scenario. “Imagine that you are walking and you hear a car screeching to a stop. You look over and you see a small child lying in a pool of blood. You see a woman come running out of her house screaming. You watch this woman try to reach the child. You study her closely and then you walk to the privacy of your home. There you go to a mirror and practice the facial expressions, body language and vocal range of that woman for hours until you can replicate her behavior perfectly.”
Babiak and Hare have done research that suggests that about 1% of our population is psychopathic. However that number climbs to over 3% in organizations. Why?
Business offers a rich target source. People are more influenced by stories and they are more likely not to divulge to other workers that they have been conned or duped. Stories have a profound influence on our ability to access reality. Our understanding of story elements may give us a split second of reflection to say to the immaculately dressed and smiling co-worker “no thanks, I am not buying it.”
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