Snakes in Suits

The Disguise of Sanity

The recent anniversary (April 16th) of the Virginia Tech murder spree was recently upon us. We will never know the reasons that propelled Cho Seung-Hui on that ordinary Monday five years ago to kill 32 people and wound 25 others in two separate deadly attacks separated by more than two hours, and then commit suicide, creating the deadliest massacre in U.S. history by a single gunman. Now many of us will never have to face an experience like the one that day, but you may or already have experienced an interaction with an equally dangerous and destructive individual. These individuals may not appear on campus with guns in hand, but instead hide behind resumes and executive desks. Many of them just as disturbed and psychopathic as Cho Seung-Hui can be found working and walking around us every day.

The image most of us have when we hear the label of psychopath is of someone like Albert Hamilton Fish a.k.a Hannibal Lechter, Charles Manson or Ted Bundy. What most people may not know is that psychopathy is not classified as a mental illness. The behavior exhibited by psychopaths is not illegal in most cases. In fact, what countless psychopaths really crave is money, power and fame. As discussed in the book “Snakes in Suites When Psychopaths Go to Work” by Paul Babiak, Ph.D. & Robert D. Hare, Ph.D., Psychopaths are discussed from the perspective of employment. The book focuses on discussions around how psychopaths manipulate their way into a company and how they continue to get promoted. It discusses the similarities between psychopathic traits and leadership qualities as well as the effects of their presence on co-workers and the corporation in general.

As stated in our textbook “Frauds can be classified in several ways: by victim, by perpetrator, or by scheme. Frauds against organizations are most common, but financial statement frauds are usually most expensive.” From reading “Snakes in Suites”, we learn that the fraud...