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Author Topic: Work may never seem the same again  (Read 4188 times)

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Offline Grumpmeister

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Work may never seem the same again
« on: June 22, 2007, 11:38:34 AM »
Note to self: do not nark off any of me colleagues from now on  scared2:

Quote
The word psychopath strikes fear into the hearts of most ordinary individuals conjuring up images of axe-wielding mass murderers or sexual predators stalking the wards of prison isolation wings.

But that is far from the whole truth and one of the world's experts on psychopaths arrived in Cardiff on Tuesday with some disturbing news.

In a talk entitled Snakes in suits: when psychopaths go to work, Professor Robert Hare from Canada argued that psychopaths may not be what we think they are.

And as BBC News Online found out, they can exist successfully in every walk of live.

"I'm not worried about security - if they were going to get me they would have got me by now."

These were the words of the world's leading authority on psychopathy before he gave a talk in front of a packed out lecture theatre at Cardiff University.

Robert Hare, who is a Professor of Psychology at the University of British Columbia in Canada, has spent most of his working life studying psychopaths - a dangerous occupation, it seems.

"The first one I met at a maximum security prison in Canada stared at me so hard I felt like I was being pushed up against the wall," he said.

"Then he got a knife out and was moving it around in front of me.

"I didn't know what I was getting myself into."

And he has been "into it" for the past 25 years.   You can spot them quite easily in the workplace - so you may want to think about people you know

But you would never guess this diminutive, unassuming man has been in contact with real life Hannibal Lecters.

"They get interested in me - and blame me that they're in prison," he said.

"I've had death threats as a result but I keep going - what can you do?"

So was Professor Hare in Cardiff to warn us about the proliferation of psychopaths in Welsh prisons? No, but they could be in your office right now.

Psychopaths are defined as a person with an antisocial personality disorder, manifested in aggressive, perverted, criminal, or amoral behaviour without empathy or remorse.

 Is your boss a psychopath? Here are just some of the tell tale signs
 
    They are manipulative
    They lack specific goals
    They have superficial relations with people
    They are impulsive
    They are irresponsible
    They crave power and prestige
    They lack empathy
    They lack remorse
    They lie easily
    They have predatory instincts
    They are cool under pressure
    They seek excitement and thrills
    They take credit for the work of others
    They fly into rages 

And Professor Hare, along with colleague Dr Paul Babiak, has developed a new 107-point questionnaire - the B-Scan - which can enable people like you and me to identify which desks those smooth-talking, manipulative colleagues might be hiding behind.

"We normally associate psychopaths with death but they're not always in prison," he said.

"We think of them as crazy people but Ian Brady described himself in his book as a businessman.

"You can spot them quite easily in the workplace - so you may want to think about people you know."

Former Daily Mirror tycoon Robert Maxwell, who stole ?400m from pension funds to help his ailing companies, was named as a classic example of a man in a powerful position who might very well have displayed psychopathic traits.

So what should we be looking out for?

 
Professor Robert Hare has received death threats
According to Professor Hare psychopaths are impulsive - they lack empathy and remorse.

They crave power and prestige, and are extremely controlling.

He described them as "knowing the words but not the music."

"They can learn to use ordinary words and to reproduce the pantomime of feeling but the feeling itself does not come to pass."

So is he describing your boss?

They interview well, they get into organisations by using people as pawns, sweet talking patrons and creating conflict.

"I don't see any difference between the people I meet in prison and those in business," he added.

So should we be running for the hills?

You have been warned.

Just out of interest Nick, and not wishing to worry you at all  whistle: but how many of those traits does Miss Whiplash possess...
The universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements. Energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest.

Offline Snoopy

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #1 on: June 22, 2007, 11:51:32 AM »
That list just about covers every "boss" I ever had. eeek:
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Offline Grumpmeister

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #2 on: June 22, 2007, 12:17:32 PM »
Didnt realise it at the time but going from that list I think I fired one in a previous job  scared2:
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Offline Nick

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #3 on: June 22, 2007, 12:37:49 PM »
Quote
Is your boss a psychopath? Here are just some of the tell tale signs
 

They are manipulative
They lack specific goals
They have superficial relations with people
They are impulsive
They are irresponsible
They crave power and prestige
They lack empathy
They lack remorse
They lie easily
They have predatory instincts
They are cool under pressure
They seek excitement and thrills
They take credit for the work of others
They fly into rages 


I know a lot of people like that. Mrs Nick for a start
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Offline Snoopy

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #4 on: June 22, 2007, 12:50:30 PM »
Quote
Is your boss a psychopath? Here are just some of the tell tale signs
 

They are manipulative
They lack specific goals
They have superficial relations with people
They are impulsive
They are irresponsible
They crave power and prestige
They lack empathy
They lack remorse
They lie easily
They have predatory instincts
They are cool under pressure
They seek excitement and thrills
They take credit for the work of others
They fly into rages 


I know a lot of people like that. Mrs Nick for a start

Well now you have a name for it as well!  whistle:
I used to have a handle on life but it broke.

Offline Grumpmeister

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #5 on: June 22, 2007, 12:55:19 PM »
Donations for Nick's headstone are now being taken as its an odds on certainty that when the boy cracks his passwords this time round Mrs Nick will see Nick's post...  eeek:
The universe is run by the complex interweaving of three elements. Energy, matter, and enlightened self-interest.

Offline Nick

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #6 on: June 22, 2007, 01:16:08 PM »
I have my effing sister to deal with first. At this rate I will need a bigger patio
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Offline Snoopy

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #7 on: June 22, 2007, 01:24:34 PM »
I have my effing sister to deal with first. At this rate I will need a bigger patio

It's as well that my appointment for today, at the dental hospital in Liverpool, was cancelled then ~ I had planned to call in for lunch on my way back.  ;)
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Offline Nick

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #8 on: June 22, 2007, 01:28:41 PM »
I am up to my neck in every sort of mess here so,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, maybe you should have called in. Blimey are your teeth falling out now?
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Offline Snoopy

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #9 on: June 22, 2007, 01:36:40 PM »
I am up to my neck in every sort of mess here so,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, maybe you should have called in. Blimey are your teeth falling out now?

No ~ No problems at the moment ~ But the heart medication I've been on for years does cause some problems with teeth and gums. Also having an implanted defibrillator means that 99.9% of dentists won't look at me so I have to go to the Dental Hosp for regular check-ups etc (just in case the machine "fires").
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Offline Nick

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #10 on: June 22, 2007, 01:47:28 PM »
Maybe you should just hire a Nurse?


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Offline Snoopy

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #11 on: June 22, 2007, 01:52:04 PM »
Maybe you should just hire a Nurse?




Don't tell me ~ you just happen to know someone ............... eyes:
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Berek

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #12 on: June 22, 2007, 02:05:09 PM »

Offline Nick

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #13 on: June 22, 2007, 02:06:31 PM »
"She" is that tranny I saw in Ulverston. Don't even think about it!
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Berek

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Re: Work may never seem the same again
« Reply #14 on: June 22, 2007, 02:11:09 PM »
"She" is that tranny I saw in Ulverston. Don't even think about it!

 eyes: