There are people in this world who look to take advantage of others, whether they are classified as narcissistic, sociopathic, compulsive, or pathological liars. These individuals operate differently from most people, making them even more dangerous because they don’t stand out in obvious ways.
In this article, you’ll learn how to detect some of these types, using Elizabeth Holmes as our primary example. Holmes managed to raise nearly $1 billion for her company, Theranos, which promised to conduct full blood scans with just a few drops of blood from a finger. This, of course, would have revolutionized the medical industry if it had been real.
Behind the scenes, however, Holmes and her boyfriend, Sunny, were hiding the fact that these tests never worked. They defrauded investors and misled over a million people who expected accurate readings from the Theranos tests, which was impossible. Unfortunately, Elizabeth Holmes is not unique. The NIH reports that 6.2% of the U.S. population has narcissistic personality disorder, and Dr. Paul Ekman estimates that no more than 5% of people are pathological liars. That’s potentially 1 in 20 people.
In this article, we’ll explore how you can detect these dangerous personalities before they take advantage of you, since you’re likely to encounter some of them in your life. I’m not trying to label them exactly, but they often exhibit behaviors consistent with narcissistic personality disorder.
A significant motivator for these personalities is having the world view them in a way that strokes their ego. They are hyper-focused on maintaining the personas they’ve constructed, so be cautious of people who have an intense focus on their image. For example, Elizabeth Holmes wanted to be the female Steve Jobs. She wore black turtlenecks, copied his live demo style, and hired many ex-Apple employees at the start of her company. Of course, lots of people emulate their idols, but a key indicator of a dangerous personality is when they lie about seemingly ridiculous things to maintain their persona.
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For instance, some people tell fantastic stories about their lives that never happened, like the co-founder of Fyre Festival, who claimed to have bought an island owned by Pablo Escobar—when in fact, they were kicked off the island by its real owner for even mentioning Escobar in promotional materials. In Elizabeth’s case, one bizarre lie she frequently told was about her voice. She affected a baritone nearly all the time. Listen to this clip from an interview:
“This is what happens when you work to change things. First, they think you’re crazy, then they fight you, and then all of a sudden, you change the world.”
In this clip, she sounds collected and prepared, but employees reported that the baritone would slip at the end of long days, revealing a typical voice for a young woman. In that same interview, you can hear her voice shift once the questions become more challenging:
“Then they fight you, and then all of a sudden, you change the world.”
A lie like this, meant to promote a particular image, might seem quirky and forgivable, but be cautious of these traits, as they can signal a deeper need to control how people perceive them—a textbook narcissistic trait. These people often lack the feelings of guilt or shame that prevent most from engaging in fraudulent or harmful behavior.
They also tend to have a very different relationship with lying. Most people have limits on how flagrantly we’re willing to lie, preferring instead to bend the truth. The more egregious our lies become, the more visibly uncomfortable we are. But this isn’t the case with narcissistic types, who can tell bold-faced, flagrant lies without hesitation. For example, listen to how Theranos demoed their fake tests:
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They would prick the visiting VIP’s finger, insert the blood sample into a cartridge, and place it in the mini-lab, making it appear as though the machine was working. They would then say it would take a little while and suggest the VIP visit the lab. While the guest was out of the room, a Theranos employee would stop the machine, remove the blood, and have it tested by a lab technician or on one of the Siemens machines. These staged demos happened repeatedly with extremely smart people, including a former Secretary of State and Silicon Valley investors whose job it was to be skeptical—yet none of them caught Elizabeth. Likely, it was because she didn’t exhibit the nervousness around lying that most people would.
Do not assume that a calm demeanor means someone is telling the truth, especially if they have narcissistic tendencies. Research shows that psychopaths and sociopaths, when lying, don’t require extra mental effort to suppress the truth or control their body language—these behaviors come naturally to them. This is why compulsive and pathological liars often fool people. Many assume that lying should stress people out because it stresses them, so when they see someone lying without discomfort, they take it as truth.
A better method for detecting lies is to take a “10,000-foot view” of their claims. Rather than focusing on body language or specific explanations, summarize their claims at a high level and use your intuition to judge if they make sense. This approach is how the journalist who exposed Elizabeth Holmes first became suspicious. He noticed something odd: the idea that a 19-year-old college dropout with only two semesters of chemical engineering had pioneered groundbreaking medical science seemed implausible. In fields like medicine, you need formal training and decades of research to contribute meaningfully.
This is an important point. People with traits like those seen in Elizabeth Holmes often trick our logical minds more easily than our gut instincts because they have an explanation for everything. Here’s an example: Holmes’ grandfather went to get a Theranos test and ended up having a needle inserted in his arm, even though the technology was supposed to use a finger prick. When asked about this, Holmes would offer an excuse as to why they needed to take a venous draw for him but not for others, keeping people invested in the lie.
Another red flag is when a person refuses to give up on a lie, even when caught. When most people are exposed, they admit defeat, feel shame, and seek forgiveness. But people who lie compulsively often persist. For example, Billy McFarland, co-founder of Fyre Festival, ran a second scam while out on bail, offering tickets to the Grammys and meet-and-greets with celebrities like LeBron James, despite having no access to these events.
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Even Elizabeth Holmes continued her deception. Just a month before Theranos shut its doors and after being barred from holding a position at a public company by the SEC, she told investors she would likely liquidate the company by the end of July. Yet she still claimed she was going to start a new company! This shows that such individuals have a very different relationship with the truth. Image takes precedence over reality, and they seem to maintain this effortlessly.
Finally, when you confront these types, they will often dismiss your concerns in one of two ways. Either they’ll label you a “hater” and cut you off, as Holmes and her boyfriend did when subordinates raised concerns, or, if you’re more powerful, they might imply that there’s a conspiracy against them. Holmes, for instance, claimed that she couldn’t reveal Theranos’ technology because it was so revolutionary that competitors would steal it. This kind of secrecy, especially when paired with far-fetched reasons, should put you on high alert.
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