Steve Mensing, Editor
Many of us encountered individuals triggering our early warning systems. Our intuition and past experiences warned us about people giving every indication of being untrustworthy. They often stick out because of their angling or they press our boundaries. Maybe we’ve seen these persons saying one thing to one person and then something entirely different to another to advance their ambitions. Likely we’ve had the misfortune of running into such persons in business and politics. They exude a quality of mercurial sleaziness. They are said to suffer from “Snakes in Suits Syndrome” and are commonly labeled “white collar psychopaths”.
Typical clues of psychopaths found in politics and business (May possess a number of these qualities, but no all):
• Back stabbing to get ahead.
• Exploiting others and groups to advance personal ambition. They lack loyalty. They ARE the wolves-in-sheep’s clothes.
• Two-facing: Telling one thing to one person and telling something entirely different to someone else.
• Makes convenient promises never kept.
• May feign caring, but are callous and unfeeling.
• Brown nosing with persons they deem important to get ahead.
• May steal other’s ideas at work and promote them as their own.
• Values others only for what they can provide.
• Highly acquisitive with a strong need for power, money, prestige and the limelight.
• Quick to blame others. Seldom accepts responsibility for own actions.
• Bend the truth to fit their needs.
• A talent for picking out the undiscerning and using them.
• Emotionally shallow, lacking in empathy and experiences minimal remorse.
• Highly manipulative.
• A social climber to advance ambitions.
• Often glib in speech, facile with words, and says all the right things.
• Puts on a holier than thou face and may speak from a lofty perch.
• Will high-pressure others and ignore boundaries.
• Exudes self-importance.
• Superficially charming.
• They attempt to exploit political and business groups to their own advantage.
• They crave being a part of in-groups and being identified with people deemed of high status. They suffer from approvalitis.
• They are frequent joiners of groups to advance their careers and status.
• They have no problem befriending the the corrupt.
• People who come in contact with them often describe them as insincere, hollow, and fake.
• They are status seekers.
• They often work in jobs calling on their manipulative and persuasive skills such as sales or business leadership.
Robert Hare’s website (Hare wrote the book “Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work”):
