Snakes in Suits: When Psychopaths Go to Work is a 2006 non-fiction book by industrial psychologist Paul Babiak and criminal psychologist Robert D. Hare. The book describes how a workplace psychopath can take power in a business using manipulation.

Contents

The text covers the nature of psychopaths in the context of employment and purports to explain how psychopaths manipulate their way into work and get promoted, the effects of their presence on colleagues and corporations, and the superficial similarities (and fundamental differences) between leadership skills and psychopathic traits. The work is interlaced with fictional narratives illustrating how the factual content applies to real-life situations. Characteristics of manipulators are described as shifting to meet stereotypical gender expectations: a female psychopath might make full use of the passive, warm, nurturing, and dependent gender role stereotype in order to get what she wants out of others and a male psychopath might use a macho image, intimidation, and aggression to achieve satisfaction of his desires. The authors posit that around 1% of senior positions in business are occupied by psychopaths. The authors describe a "five phase model" of how a typical workplace psychopath climbs to and maintains power: entry, assessment, manipulation, confrontation, and ascension. The book also contains a statement from Hare addressing his role in the 2003 documentary film The Corporation, in which he is interviewed on the topic of corporations being considered psychopaths. Hare states that despite the filmmakers telling him they were using psychopathy metaphorically to describe "the most egregious" corporate misbehavior, the finished documentary uses his statements to suggest that corporations are psychopathic in general or by definition. Hare disagrees, deeming it an inaccurate generalization and arguing that if common diagnostic criteria were applied to random corporations, "some might apply for the diagnosis of psychopathy, but most would not."

Reception

A review of Snakes in Suits by The Australian called it "a lay guide to corporate psychopaths" and concluded that "However wooden in parts, Snakes in Suits is a valuable addition to any business library." Snakes in Suits has also been reviewed by Publishers Weekly, Booklist, Psychology Today, California Bookwatch, Security Management, Canadian Business, and Finweek.