How to recognize and recover from everyday sociopaths - narcissists

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Bernie Madoff: The accomplishment of an entrepreneur or a psychopath?

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Last night was the final night of a course in social gerontology I taught at the University of Bridgeport. I left the class feeling optimistic about humans. While walking to my car I reflected on an interview of Dr. Charlotte Perry, Medical Anthropologist at UCSF. When asked about the needs of aging African Americans she said, “I did a study in the Southeastern part of the United States of a large group of widows living in subsidized housing. The widows who were "weller" (for lack of a better term) were in fact taking care of those in the housing complex that weren't as well. The housing complex management took no responsibility for making assessments on health status beyond the initial a …

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Bad vibes from a workplace psychopath

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Lovefraud recently received an e-mail from a reader. Her company had hired a new guy and she was tasked with helping him learn his job. The guy immediately made her feel extremely uncomfortable. Here's what she wrote: I can't look him in the eye or even stand to talk with him. He is very "nice" and has never shown any angry tendencies. I can't explain my feelings but my intuition tells me to be wary and afraid of him. He exhibits self-important behavior and is glib and overly polite. Just the thought of him makes me shudder. He's never given me any concrete reason to dislike him. However when I very first met him, he was too familiar and presumptuous, calling me by my nickname on the …

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Employee from hell sounds like a psychopath

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The cover photo of Fortune Small Business magazine's March issue is a guy sitting on top of a water cooler. He's wearing a red striped shirt and a blue and red tie. He has red horns popping out of his bald head. The topic: “Employees from hell.” One of the cover stories is about The turncoat No. 2 who tries to take over the business. A woman who started a company hired a guy, called Benedict Arnold in the story, as her second-in-command. After about a year, she noticed that Arnold was inflating his expenses, taking two- and three-hour lunches, and showing up late for important meetings. She was about to discipline him when Arnold dropped his own bomb. He told her she had to resign from he …

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Red flags for workplace sociopaths

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Lovefraud readers continue to contribute their insights about spotting sociopaths. Last week a reader contributed her list of red flags to watch for when dating. Of course, sociopaths do not limit their victimizations to romantic relationships. They often create havoc in the workplace. So inspired by last week's post, Adrian Melia of Humane Resources Ltd, a UK company that helps employers recognize and prevent workplace bullying, adapted the red flags to help you spot a sociopathic boss or coworker. Here's what he wrote: Workplace habits of a career sociopath Chooses and sucks up to allies (not "friends") who are more powerful, or who he can use to further his aims, or who have …

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Psychopaths in the executive suite

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If you're one of those people who still thinks anyone should be able to recognize a psychopath, wake up: Not all psychopaths are beady-eyed serial killers. The psychopath you see every day could be your boss. Snakes in Suits is the new book by Dr. Robert Hare, the international expert on psychopaths, and Dr. Paul Babiak, an industrial-organizational psychologist. (I wrote about the book last Sunday as well.) Buried on page 193 is a shocking statistic: 3.5% of business executives are psychopaths. Hare and Babiak conducted original research with 200 high-potential executives. The 3.5% who scored as psychopaths were "superficial, grandiose, deceitful, impulsive, irresponsible, not taking …

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Enron and corporate sociopaths

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Last week former Enron executives Ken Lay and Jeffrey Skilling were found guilty of fraud and conspiracy. Lay was convicted of six counts, including conspiracy to commit securities and wire fraud. Skilling was convicted of 19 counts of conspiracy and fraud. On the same day, the verdict was announced in Ken Lay's separate non-jury trial related to his personal finances. He was found guilty of bank fraud. In January, 2004, Andrew Fastow, Enron's former finance chief, accepted a 10-year prison sentence in a plea-bargain deal in which he agreed to testify against his former bosses. Had he not cut the deal, he would have faced 98 counts of fraud, money laundering, insider trading and other …

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