Could you be working with a Sociopath?

Have you ever wondered whether you may have a Sociopath with the midst of your professional office environment? Do they live in your neighbourhood? Are they plotting against you in the office next door or simply hiding in plain sight in the "20 year experiment of the glorious open floor-plan"? Are you sure that you are not a Sociopath yourself?

You may (or may not) be surprised that a sociopath working in a corporate office is far more common than you might imagine. As 4% of the population are defined as "sociopaths" you can be pretty certain that your organisation has more than its fair share of them and this can spell trouble for you or one of your colleagues.

Interestingly, "what defines a sociopath isn’t a tendency toward physical violence, but rather, a complete lack of conscience. Sociopaths lack the very basic ability to empathise with others, and, although they can learn right from wrong, they don’t feel the guilt and therefore simply don’t care about hurting others.

Although most sociopaths aren’t physically dangerous, they can be very dangerous in more abstract ways — particularly in a work place, where a manipulative and conscienceless coworker could affect your career in the long term".

How would you spot a potential Sociopath in your workplace?

Charming

According to research "one trait that many sociopaths share is that they are charismatic. They tend to attract people toward themselves easily and can effortlessly hold the attention of the whole room. In an office, a sociopath may be some whom everyone assumes does a lot of work (because he or she is so often the center of attention), but who in reality does very little"

An inability to connect on a deeper level

"Despite their ability to charm people, sociopaths rarely have close friends. Because they lack empathy, they have a hard time connecting on a deep level with other people. In a work environment, this might mean that an employee is well liked on the surface, but isn’t actually friends with any of his or her coworkers."

Constant boredom

Clinical Psychologist and Clinical Instructor in Psychiatry at the Harvard Medical School, Martha Stout, author of The Sociopath Next Door says that "sociopaths are plagued by a sense of boredom, and that this boredom is a real source of pain. She suggests that sociopaths’ destructive behaviour link back to a simple desire not to be bored." She told Interview,

"[I]f you’re sociopathic and you really have no caring for anybody, there’s not much left, only boredom, and the way to relieve that, apparently, is to play a game and make sure that you win."

"These “games” can take many forms, she says, but the primary goal is to get someone else to do “something that he or she would not have done otherwise,” regardless of how harmful that may be for him or her."

Being manipulative — just for the hell of it

"A sociopath finds satisfaction in manipulating others to do his or her bidding. If your colleague is a sociopath, you may find him or her manipulating others to think poorly of your work, or even trying to manipulate you into doing his or her work. These manipulations may seem to have no other point than to make life harder for you or to make others have a bad opinion of you. A sociopath wants control over others, and getting you to do extra work, come in on a weekend, or even question your own ability is a sociopath’s way of declaring power.

When called out for their manipulations, sociopaths will not actually feel guilty (though they pretend to). Stout suggests that such people will often try to generate pity in others (and are perfectly willing to lie to do so); gaining pity is, too, a manipulative tactic that gives them power over others."

No sense of boundaries

"Sociopaths don’t care about the rights or feelings of others, so they’ll have no problem with demanding that you be on call night and day, that you stay late, or that you field phone calls late at night."

Being irresponsible at work

"Sociopaths don’t have a sense of duty or guilt, and if they don’t like their jobs — and particularly if they are bored by them — they won’t feel bad about shirking their responsibility or manipulating others to perform them", no matter the cost to the individual or even to the company for which they are employed. They tend to be impulsive in general, so they may perform inconsistently or erratically at work.

Being quick to anger

"A sociopath can lash out (verbally or physically) very suddenly, and for seemingly small cause. If your coworker seems fine one minute and is berating you for a tiny infraction the next, he or she may be exhibiting sociopathic tendencies."

So, have you seen these traits in yourself? Chances are, if you are actually a true Sociopath, you wouldn't see them - you would see yourself as you choose - that truly charismatic leader without peer...

For the 96% of you that do not exhibit the traits of a Sociopath, do you ever see these consistently in any of your co-workers or leaders? "If your work life is plagued by a sociopath... remember that this is a coworker without morality or guilt, someone who isn’t ever likely to change".

In closing, remember that one out of every 25 human beings has no conscience, no sense of right or wrong, no empathy, no remorse with little or no ability to understand emotion. Even worse, they can mimic or fake emotion or feelings to gain your confidence and trust. But in reality, they see other "humans" as sacrificial lambs - to be used, devalued, destroyed or ruined, through serial lies and a widely performed and well practised smile, simply for their own benefit or amusement, or both... and just because they can...

Quoted text is highlighted from "7 Signs Your Coworker is a Sociopath" by Lara Rutherford-Morrison (2015).