Snakes In Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work

Resources for Humans Managing Editor Celeste Blackburn reviews the book Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work by Paul Babiak, Ph.D. and Robert D. Hare, Ph.D. Review highlights how book teaches employers to avoid hiring psychopath employees by giving interview tips.

Babiak is an industrial and organizational psychologist, and Hare is the author of Without Conscience: The Disturbing World of the Psychopaths Among Us and the creator of the standard tool for diagnosing psychopathy (the Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R)). Together, they examine how psychopaths are working their ways into corporate America in Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work. They interview well and often have impeccable resumes filled with impressive work experience. They can thrive in “fast-paced, high-risk, high-profit environments” and often manipulate the numbers (and the people around them) so that the havoc they’ve wrecked can’t be detected until it’s much too late. (After they’ve gone on to another employer or, worse, are sitting on the beach of a country that won’t expedite sipping margaritas paid for by their former employer’s retirement fund.)
Babiak and Hare use accessible language and real-world case studies throughout the book. In fact, during the discussion of what psychopathy is, you’ll likely find yourself thinking, “I know someone who has that trait. I know someone who has that trait. Wait, I have that trait . . .” However, the authors are clear that true psychopathy exists only in a very small percentage of the population. They compare studies done on prisoners whose crimes indicate psychopathy with studies done on heads of large corporations, and there are some striking similarities: Both groups tend to exhibit high levels of histrionic, narcissistic, and compulsive personality disorders.
Babiak and Hare do give employers advice on how to protect employees and their companies from these individuals. They cite the interview process as the best place to weed out these snakes. They write, “Companies accelerate their hiring practices to attract, hire, and retain new, high-potential talent before their competitors do. Gone are the days of the painstaking vetting process. Competition is fierce and qualified candidates few.”
While Babiak and Hare stress repeatedly that “there is no evidence that psychopaths derive any benefit from treatment or management programs,” the do say that using an assessment based on an in-depth interview and clinical records (similar to Hare’s PCL-R) could go a long way toward keeping the snakes out of your office.
Overall, this is a fascinating and informative read. It would make a great tool in any HR professional’s arsenal, but especially anyone who is involved in the interviewing process.

I give this 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Celeste Blackburn is managing Editor of HR Insight.