Working with Monsters: How to Identify and Protect Yourself from the Workplace Psychopath

by John Clarke

Does the following person sound familiar? At the workplace, he/she intimidates fellow workers; exhibits impulsive behavior; demonstrates a lack of remorse; and is glib and superficially charming. Workplace psychopaths exist in a variety of institutions. They are individuals who manipulate their way through life and leave an indelible mark on both their victims and society. They are destructive men and women—cunning, self-centered, ruthless, and terrifying. What motivates these individuals? How can coworkers protect themselves from these "monsters" who hide behind a veneer of respectability? This guide provides a fascinating insight into the mind of the workplace psychopath. Drawing on studies and research in forensic psychology, it shows how to recognize and manage a workplace psychopath.

Genres: Psychology, Nonfiction, Business, Workplace

304 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2002

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information. This is John^Clarke.

Reviews

[Matthew · Rating 2 out of 5]

Serial filler
FORMER English rugby coach Clive Woodward may have been some type of psychopath. Unfortunately to find out which type may involve reading this book.
The author is a ‘consultant psychological profiler’ circling big government and even bigger business much like a forensic vulture.
Here he combines pseudo-science, relentless jargon and banal management conceptualising to bring you Working with Monsters. The book has an admirable purpose - intending to show readers how to identify and protect themselves from mentally unstable colleagues. But the writing is flavourless, repetitive and reading it is a lesson in drudgery.
Australian Dr. John Clarke is a self-styled bouncer cum bounty hunter. He stands behind the velvet rope of the corporate discothèque ushering the sane on to the office dance floor while weeding out and turfing any potential nutters. Thus he aims to save your workplace from becoming a hothouse of rampant psychopathy.
Assimilating bullies back into the workforce is a sub-industry in itself. Borderline cases, mainly repentant white collar criminals, are given a second chance if they generate enough cash and can maintain a manageable level of strained harmony with their co-workers.
With horror you begin to picture a David Brent style team building exercise as distressed workers mind-map strategies for dealing with these semi-reformed control freaks.
You can almost hear Clarke smacking his chops together at the thought of more consultancy fees. Firmly positioned as a psychology guru his book soon begins to smack of vanity, self promotion and opportunistic haste.
The refrain “glib and superficial” is overused to describe the two personality traits most common to the average psychopath. The irony that both these adjectives could be used to describe a decent chunk of human social interaction seems to be lost on Clarke.
In the book’s death throes Clarke undertakes a seriously pointless evaluation of this question: “Are psychopaths good for business?”. Reason suggests that the shortest, most obvious answer is “hell no”. Clarke takes a redundant, circuitous and longwinded 12 pages to arrive at this self-evident conclusion.
Many tyrannies face the ordinary desk jockey but surely consultants must be among the most insipid.

Matt Stewart, Capital Times, Sep 7-13, 2005

[Luciano Palma · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inicialmente, é frustrante descobrir que este livro (de 105 páginas) é a tradução de "Pocket Psycho" (160 páginas), e não de "Working with Monsters" (264 páginas).
De qualquer forma, o que o autor coloca reflete, infelizmente, uma personalidade e um comportamento relativamente comuns em ambientes de trabalho hierarquizados e politizados: o psicopata corporativo.
O livro deixa claro que você não estará apto a diagnosticar psicopatias após uma leitura tão breve, mas ajudará a detectar situações onde você pode estar sendo prejudicado pelo comportamento inadequado de alguns "profissionais" ao seu redor. Além disso, ele dá algumas dicas de como evitar as consequências negativas e marcantes, às vezes de forma muito intensa, que os psicopatas corporativos deixam como rastro em sua busca desenfreada por poder e dinheiro.
Caso você considere o livro exagerado, fica meu depoimento: monstros existem.

[Xanthi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Written for the layperson, this book is about recognising and dealing with a psychopath in the work place. The different types are identified and how to protect oneself from them is discussed. I liked that this was an Australian author and that he included examples of situations, workplaces and outcomes.
I have worked and socialised with a psychopath so a lot of this book was highly pertinent. I do like that there was a section included that covered other personality disorders that people may mix up with psychopathy - narcissism, histrionics, passive aggression, etc. I have worked with people like this, too.
This book is sobering.

[Tony · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a very enjoyable book to read and anybody who works in an office of a Government department will relate to it. I'm not sure though about the marketing of the book. The front cover of the book, and the title itself gives the impression that it is some type of light hearted look at a real issue and it is not. In my view it is a serious attempt to identify some people in the workplace who are making it hell for others. It is well written and not in a "text" type so the lay person can easily digest it. I will certainly be passing the book on to others to read.

[Nancy Valentino]

Don’t worry, everyone I work with is lovely. But there’s a few difficult people I’m dealing with in life at the moment (organisational psychopaths? Maybe.) so it seemed timely to read this book. Not that helpful really but a fascinating read nonetheless. The takeaway: improve your self-esteem to protect yourself from psychopaths.

[James Mcmurray · Rating 4 out of 5]

Interesting views on psychopathy. As life goes on you realise the world is full of psychopaths, and the best way of dealing with them is understand how they think; very interesting read.

[Sherry Mackay · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting info but very repetitive.

[Sarah · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had read this sooner.

[Tamara · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is fantastic for understanding of the workplace psychopath - a real occurrence, a real disease! It helps make an informed decision about about how to understand the workplace psychopath, and whether you can do anything about it - whether you are a boss with a person like this under you, or whether your boss is a control freak!

It helped me immensely - these people are more common than you think, and in most cases, there are ways to dull the frustration of these people in your life. Highly recommended.

[Ladiebug Dame · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is inspiring if you are going through a dark time at work. It has inspired me to take such actions as to leave my job and let everyone know why and to keep alert of any future actions that this workplace bully can bring on.

However, as much as this book is insightful, there are some characteristics of subtypes that can relate to a normal human without psychopathy or mental disorders (slightly condredictive and over generalised) ... In saying that I'm not a psychiatrist and haven't experienced or worked with the people and situations that he has. Some examples can seem a little far fetched. But it does get the general point across.

[Kerry]

I really enjoyed this book - it was written very well, but not so academic as to make me feel like I was reading a txt for work. I really enjoyed the writers intrepretation and supposition of the different character's one can come across at work and I found it valuable for when I was working in a particular organisation in 2007 ;-)

[Mary Ann · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great book for those who are dealing with a psychopath or other toxic people in the workplace. It is amazing how charming they can be to management but are evil gas lighters to those who work around them and do not like their psychopathic ways. I wish I had read this before I retired due to these mentally ill people! More employers should read this book as well.

[Renée Heaton · Rating 1 out of 5]

What can I say but "ugh"

[Maxim · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sort of book everyone really needs to read. Every one of us has experienced the Psychopath and the best way to avoid them is to understand them.

[David Mitchell · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book's title suggests that it is particular to workplace psychopaths; however, there is also very valuable information on organisational psychopaths that I found most helpful.

[Chris Heeney]

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