The Good Life

no a**holes policy may work at Google, a company of forward-thinkers and iconoclasts or Ben and Jerry's, but perhaps not at a place like Morgan Stanley or Saloman Bros.

Hello Tess - If I can unpack your question, you seem to be saying that certain types of businesses are well-served by mean-spirited employees. That's an empirical question, and I do not know of any evidence that supports this claim. I could be wrong. Regardless, in the present economic crisis, I think that any and all businesses involved in banking and investments should rethink--drastically--how they do things. - Chris Peterson*

*Good thing I like my job, because my retirement fund has gone down the toilet in the last month.

I wonder what questions were raised about corporate psychopaths, as they do exist, with their traits of remorselessness, charm and manipulation.

These are people who are hired by managers at the top level because of their brimming confidence, and they're often well protected despite their 'asshole' status.

I've certainly seen some statistics, and surely don't doubt the existence of empirical evidence indicating that the number of psychopaths rises as you climb the corporate ladder.

That is, there's a significant difference between the number of psychopaths on the frontline as compared to top level management. If anything, this is worrying and likely to make a lot of workers' lives miserable unless selection criteria and screening is improved.

Sutton, in his book, does not out too much emphasis on traits and none at all on psychiatric diagnoses. He emphasizes how the situation can encourage or discourage bad behavior. Obviously, the person and the situation both matter, but as an occasional clinical psychologist, I am wary of glibly diagnosing people, especially from a distance. "Psychopath" (antisocial personality disorder) has a very specific meaning that goes far beyond misbehaving in the workplace. The prevalence rates for workplace bullying far exceed those for anti-social personality disorder, which on the face of it support what I am saying. Psychopaths are more likely to be found in prisons than in executive suites. (I know, I know, I know: people can and do move from an executive suite to a prison.)

Dr. Peterson,

Thank you for the post. I was wondering if you had any insight about sexually harassment as a specific type of workplace "asshole" or if you have any recommendations for women who are dealing with asshole sexual harrasment.

I recently left academia, which you probably already know is filled with difficult types. The only "asshole" I had a very difficult time with was the one who used sexual taunting at work (calling me a "streetwalker" bragging to the other senior professors in front of my face that he could make me do sexual acts with him). He never actually tried to have sex with me. It seemed as it was more about re-establishing a power dynamic to remind me that he was a full professor and I was lowly adjunct. I made a complaint, left my job, but still recovering from this workplace dynamic.

There always seems to be a certain level of tolerance for the smart and competent employee who exhibits bad behavior.

The higher ups in our organizations justify it by saying things like,

-Well, the work is getting done, look numbers have never been higher
-Jim's technical skills are so valuable we can't afford to lose him
-All of those problems in manufacturing with returned orders have been fixed
-It's easier to keep her than to find a replacement
-That's just how Sue is
-She doesn't mean any harm, she's just under a lot of stress
-Stop whining about Sue, focus on your work
etc.
Well, sorry folks but there's evidence that bad apple employees can make the team 35 - 40% less effective. This flys in the face of most evidence collected over the decades which says that a good strong team can dilute a disruptive employee. Read more at http://www.employeeperformancesolutions.com/managing-employee-performanc... I've created a link to This American Life's Ruining it For the Rest of Us Interview with Will Phelps, Organizational Behavior Professor at the Rotterdam School of Business who identified three types of bad apples: The Jerk, The Depressive Pessimist and The Slacker. It's well worth a listen!

Pepper spray is very effective at getting rid of undesirable behavior so buy some. Keep it in your bag and squirt the bully if being nice doesn't work. It's a practical application of classical conditioning. If all else fails the building you work in is tall then simply throw them out the window and they'll make an interesting splat on the side walk. All known life forms have evolved to avoid pain. So if you squirt a bully with pepper spray then they won't do that again for a few weeks maybe. Trying kindness leaves them open to take advantage of that. Squirting them with pepper spray makes them associate their behavior towards you with pain so they'll change it usually unless they are stupid and have less intelligence than an ameba. Any cop will tell you pepper spray really does hurt. Cayane is useful for preventing squirrels from eating plants so why can't it work on two legged pests as well? If the person you are dealing with does not have any authority over your fate use pepper spray and if they do be nice to them and update your resume to get a different job if you can. Or if the fool is stupid enough to verbally attack in the presence of others then say He always gets like that when he forgets to take his medication implying that the bully is crazy.

I've had a friend threaten to set me on fire all the time in high school and I nick named him prozac because his name was Zack and he probably would benefit from taking it most likely. Escaped from high school with minor injuries. I think irritating people have volunteered themselves for insults, pranks that you can devise and are a test of what you can do to someone and get away with it. Any prank involving guns, anything that might explode or anything remotely dangerous is right out.

Interestingly Bill 168 in Canada just got expanded and approved, and the fact that it is expanded to now include "psychological Harassment" as a form of harassment under the health and safety act in the workplace (or something along those lines, for more specific details I am sure Google would be best!) is a breakthrough perhaps...

HOWEVER, when you are dealing with powerful and skilful bullies and psychopaths our corporate culture works like what I'd like to call modern-day slavery systems, giving these narcisstic psychopaths much room to torture and bully the poor souls who work under them (or in the case o contract folks, those "leaving" them and in need of their reference or a fair performance review).

What's your advice on how we could have a more democratic society free of such modern day slavery practices as performance reviews (or courts with no jury!) and references...till then I am afraid we are still in living in dark ages where one person's word (no matter how insane and biased) will have more power over other person's word (no matter how fair and hardworking that person happens to be)!

Study, work hard, be nice, be useful. Yeah, we get it. Then we look around. Assholes rule. Slackers abound. They avoid having to earn their wealth and status. They politic, schmooze, scheme, intimidate, or cajole hypocritically. Mutual beneficial self-seeking behaviors get harnessed and organized to maximize assholes growth and elevation. Nazis on the right, Communists on the left, and frauds & cheats in between. Honest, decent, hard-working individuals (and some groups of them) are exploited to keep everything going.

Two wrongs don't make a right. So what if someone behaves objectionably, our response shouldn't be to lie about his (or her) achievements and abilities. That's exactly what you do if you label the productive-output of a bully, a jerk, and/or an asshole as incompetence. That crotchety old creep may be a real money-maker for your company in some way. If my daughter were injured in an accident and needed an extraordinarily gifted surgeon, but the only one nearby had been driven from the hospital and the nice friendly docs were admittedly unskilled, I'd be pissed. One of the most masterful and honest vehicle mechanics I ever knew was also the biggest asshole. His outside-the-box approach transformed my vehicle and he didn't charge me as much as a regular mechanic! Bad social behavior is one thing. Talent, skill, and achievement is another. A nice genius would be nice, but I'd settle for a genius jerk.

Also, in some companies there are only so many plump juicy delicious (practically) sinecure positions affording powerful influence and leverage. The scramble for such prizes will necessarily involve aggressive competition and tough tactics.