25 February 2013
Psychologist Oliver James says three types of dysfunctional characters dominate the workplace: psychopaths, machiavellians and narcissists — and a combination of all three.
James’s new book, Office Politics, How to Survive in a World of Backstabbing and Dirty Tricks, tells how people who do not suffer from such disorders can survive manipulation from those who do.
But James lives and works in Gloucestershire, so what does he know of these things? The answer lies in his dedication to “David Macindoe (RIP), whose thankless task it was to school me in office political skills”. Macindoe was James’s housemaster at Eton. So now we know why Etonians are so good at climbing to the top of the greasy pole.
