Is Craig Thompson a Corporate Psychopath?

Corporate psychopaths are continually in the news. Perhaps the most famous book on corporate psychopaths is Snakes In Suits: When Psychopaths Go To Work by Paul Babiak and Robert D. Hare. In Australia, Dr John Clarke is generally recognised the expert on corporate psychopaths and I have had the pleasure of attending his seminars and reading his books. All of these authors generate a profile of psychopath and now we have both the 1100 page Fair Work Australia report and Thompson’s parliamentary reply it is fun to run through the checklist and see if he gets any ticks.
Multiple sexual encounters
Although Thompson denies it, the FWA report lists numerous incidents.

Charming but frequently lie (very flexible with the truth)
One would have to be suspicious of anyone who when a copy of a driving licence appears in brothel claims that his driving licence was stolen for a day. However what is noteworthy in his speech to Parliament is how he distorted the truth. For example he falsely claimed the HSU paid damages in a defamation case. He implied the FWA refused to personally interview him when he refused to meet with the FWA because he said he should not because he was the subject of police investigation. In the same speech he claimed he was getting regular letters of support from Else Skinner, aged 72. She has since admitted she knew Thompson when he was young but had not sent him a letter or communicated with him for more than 25 years.

Guiltlessly blame co-workers and subordinates, never remorseful
Protected by Parliamentary privilege, Thompson blamed a number of individuals for his situation ranging from Marco Balano to Tony Abbott and at the same time made no apology for any of his behaviour.

Good at manipulating people emotionally
When you see men crying in public you always need to be suspicious. Corporate psychopaths are great actors. The television network supposedly causing the tears, Channel 7, has categorically denied the event. What does amaze me is the amount of money (over $100,000) Thompson drew out in cash on the HSU credit card. Using a credit card for legitimate expenses is well but I have been involved with over 30 businesses and I have never heard of executives drawing cash on a corporate credit card except in a very rare emergency. If I had and I was a director I would be immediately suspicious because of the lack of receipts. To say it was drawings is a complete furphy. Public organisations pay salaries. To get away with this one can only guess that Thompson used intimidating behaviour with HSU staff.

The best, however is yet to come. A great trait of corporate psychopaths is to never ask permission, but if caught out to sincerely ask for forgiveness. If this happens, it will be one of the great Parliamentary performances in our lifetime.