Are you managed by a psychopath?

I feel like people still get confused about this one.??

I’ve come across a lot of characters in my career as a recruiter and it recently got me thinking.??

Would you rather be feared or respected? ARE you feared or respected??

The first is an incredibly old school trait, hopefully gradually being removed as we all wise up about the importance of mental wellbeing, and generally just being a decent person. Is this approach intentional??

I was once told that around 19% of those in senior ‘leadership’ are psychopaths. The thing with psychopaths, as you may already well know, is they feel absolutely no remorse for their actions and perhaps don’t even register the consequences of their methods. I can see that.?

Or they do, and they enjoy the consequences and emotions they cause.??

Corporate psychopaths are a thing. They want fear instead of respect, and it’s dangerous.??

Fear is an incredibly toxic trait, causing anxiety, distress and generally reducing team members into a nervous husk of a human that can barely scrape by.??

It leads to underperformance, mistakes being made and just generally leaving people on the verge of tears the entire time. Confidence is knocked to a point where they can’t leave because they don’t feel they would get another job but staying is reducing them further and further.??

Recognising the traits of these professional monsters is important for your career and health.?

How to spot a ‘corporate’ psychopath:?

• Is there a high turnover in their teams? A high volume of people coming and going quickly is a red flag.?
• Are they volatile? Friendly one day and aggressive the next??
• Are they referred to as a bully? Do they have a record of complaints against them? A tricky one to pin down…or is it ??This might raise further red flags with regards to the culture of the wider business if an employee with a long record remains with the business.??
• How do they treat those in ‘lower’ roles? Being rude, hostile and dismissive is a giveaway.??
• Are they comfortable with not being honest with customers, colleagues and stakeholders? They may even argue when caught in a lie.??
• Manipulating data and results to investors.?

It’s time to move on.??

You know where we are if you need us.?

Lukas?