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256 SNAKES IN SUITS
instrumental aggression. Because covert blaming is hard to uncover,
it often takes a series of failures of projects under the functional control
of the psychopath to produce any significant results.
Fast-paced companies are particularly vulnerable to this problem,
as they tend to move people too quickly into new jobs without
sufficient evaluation of their current performances. For example, after
a year and a half on the job, a manager with psychopathic tendencies
was promoted to a higher-level job in a different division. He
came with a reputation of decisiveness, good communication skills,
and charismatic leadership. His success at initiating innovative new
products earned him a reputation as a genius among others in the
field. Six months after he left his old position, things started to go
wrong. Sales were down, rework was up, and profit margins sagged.
The products he had championed were simply not meeting the expectations
of either the customers or the company. Despite the fact
that his decisions regarding the product were faulty, and implemented
contrary to the data collected by the marketing research and
manufacturing departments, he easily and effectively blamed those
left behind for not picking up the ball. He blamed manufacturing for
not being able to build the product to the tight specification of his
design; he blamed marketing research for selecting the wrong demographics,
and he blamed his replacement for not giving the project
the attention and care he had given when he was in charge.
inability to act predictably
We are all more comfortable with people who are somewhat predictable,
even those who are different from us. Businesses need to
know that those working for them will show up at work, perform
their jobs according to accepted safety and quality standards, get
along with others, and not disrupt the work of others. Even creative
types, who may surprise us with their genius, are considered predictable
once their day-to-day work habits are understood. What a
business cannot afford is what is commonly referred to among management
as a loose cannon. These individuals wreak havoc on the