Surprise Sociopath
Sometimes the system is broken. Sometimes the people in it are too.
He was leading a major training rollout in one of the largest organisations in the country – designing material, coaching future trainers, and setting the stage for a smooth transition to a new billing system. He had done this sort of work before. He knew what good training looked like. And more importantly, he knew what would fail.
Then the project manager brought someone new on board.
“I’ve been assigned to another project on top our our main one, so I’ve been given an assistant to make sure I can manage both. She’s come from HR and wants to get into the training side of the business,” she said. “She’s sharp, great with spreadsheets, very efficient. I’ll be handing her more responsibility as we go.”
More responsibility came quickly. Within weeks, the newcomer was effectively running the project. Within months, she was controlling communication, isolating people, and shutting down conversations. All questions had to go through her.
Even the organisation’s senior liaison was suddenly “unavailable.”
Still, the work continued.
Then came the breaking point.
The system wasn’t ready enough to use in a training environment. Not even close. But the sessions were scheduled, and the new lead made her position clear: “Just walk participants through the manual. Four days of training that way will be fine.”
The trainers pushed back. “It won’t work,” they said. “It’ll be a disaster.”
The lead refused to budge, dismissing their concerns with the sort of extraordinary confidence that only ignorance and incompetence can produce.
So the trainer who had built the whole program said quietly, “Then you can run it without me. I won’t be part of that.”
He was removed the next day.
The training went ahead. It was, of course, a disaster.
There’s a lesson here about power, and another about professional integrity. But there’s a deeper warning too: people like this – manipulative, image-obsessed, and dangerously confident – often don’t look like villains. Until they are.
That’s why every manager, especially those trying to protect and support their teams, needs to understand what a sociopath in the workplace looks like. They are not always the snarling stereotype. Often, they present as helpful, efficient, and “just trying to get things done.”
And once they’re embedded, they start removing the people who see through them.
If you’re lucky, you’ll never meet one. But if you do, be ready to make hard decisions. Learn the signs. Protect your team. And protect yourself.