“Working with Monsters” by Dr John Clarke
Posted by webmaster 1 September 2009
Working with Monsters is an interesting read from Dr John Clarke, a consultant psychological profiler for the NSW police in criminal matters, and with corporations who are experiencing difficulties with an employee. The book provides many examples of “organisational psychopaths”(OP), who in holding positions of influence have betrayed trust, lost their organisation reputation and dollars and harmed the very people they had been charged with protecting.
When we think of the word psychopath we tend to think of the criminally violent variety, however the majority tend to be those who harm their victims via non-violent means. According to Clarke “an exclusive focus on violent criminals as psychopaths perpetuates a misleading belief… In reality, the non-violent psychopath can be just as devastating, and they are far more common. ” Many do not recognise OPs in the workplace for what they are until it is too late. Unfortunately this is no help to those who have come into contact with them.
Many are big on talking and are able to reach senior positions with the help of today’s uncertain and constantly changing corporate climate. They are smooth talkers, more prone to talk than action and generally fast and loose with the truth. They will normally cover up their deception with a strategy of rapidly moving from one topic to another to create confusion and give the impression of wide ranging knowledge. The OP is generally concerned with their own well being or those who are closely aligned with themselves and their advancement. They tend not to have any remorse for any damage inflicted on others because they do not have the ability to empathise with others.
Describing one case study involving a classic example of an OP, Dr Clarke says they were “Operating at a very high level in a successful company, they exuded an almost indefinable, venomous feeling of menace, camouflaged beneath a deceptively smooth , but entirely artificial veneer of sophisticated charm. What concerned me the most was the expression in the eyes rarely changed, it remained devoid of the quality that makes us fully human – emotion.”
Dr Clarke goes on the describe what constitutes a OP, their types of behaviours, how they are detected, how they conceal themselves, how they process information in manners different from others and some strategies in dealing with them.
September 18th, 2009 at 11:38 am
A very informing read. Being the victim of a psychopath for fifteen years, on a personal level, not in a workplace environment, although in a different context, the strategies used are all the same.