"PREDATOR:   LIVING BY ROBBING, PLUNDERING OR PREYING ON OTHER ANIMALS" ..........Webster's New World Dictionary Question:        When is doing your job - excellently - just not enough? Answer:        WHEN SOMEONE STABS YOU IN THE BACK TO GET AHEAD!                        "PREDATOR:   LIVING BY ROBBING, PLUNDERING OR PREYING ON OTHER ANIMALS" ..........Webster's New World Dictionary      "J.R. Ewing, of evening TV Soap Opera notoriety, has become the stereotype of the individual who "lives by robbing, plundering or preying on other humans".  He will do virtually anything for power and money".      Unfortunately, there are many real world versions of this type of predator in every type of life situation that we run into.  My own experience with this type of person has been in the workplace.  For those of us who periodically need sutures between our shoulder blades, after the Predators went into their act, the following describes the behavior patterns, tricks, techniques, buzz words and body language used - supposedly without detection - by the "Predators".  Most of us have seen them in different forms - usually too late - but they are pretty much stereotyped to the (sadly) experienced eye.  I've classified my own "Predators" into several categories. They are the:           1.   YUPPIE           2.   INGENUE           3.   CRYSTAL TOES           4.   COMPANY FIXTURE           5.   INSECURE SUPERVISOR           6.   FIFTH WHEEL            7.   CONSULTANT THE YUPPIE -      This type is by far the most common.  They are everywhere.  They are in large and small offices and factories, in advertising companies, in schools, even in the military.  They are obsessively goal oriented.  They have defined a plan for themselves and will allow nothing to stop them.       A recent Predator I heard of bragged that, "I'll be working in the Corporate Offices by the time I am 40.  No dead end in some Division or Subsidiary for me."  He was 35 at the time and really  seemed on his way.  He had a Vice President for a mentor who brought him into our department - without experience - to do his dirty work.  Without experience is not entirely true.  He had the type of experience, albeit not the technical experience, that the Vice President wanted - a Masters Degree in Ruthless 101.  The Predator came to our department as a "very effective Administrator", especially in the Financial and Computer world.  He very quickly allied himself with the young and up and coming "whiz kids" he knew the Vice President was fond of.      It didn't take him too long to identify those at his level and a step up the ladder that he felt were vulnerable.  With his young allies, he developed and implemented a campaign to discredit some very qualified, dedicated employees in order to extend his influence with the Vice President.  Rather than detail the chronology of his actions, I have described the qualities of the YUPPIE below.      The YUPPIE has trained himself as follows:      1.   Salesmanship      2.   Debating Team      3.   Visibility      4.   Social Graces and Entertaining      5.   Jack Of All Trades and Master of None      6.   Unlimited Working Hours      7.   Unscrupulous Ruthlessness  Salesmanship      An effective Predator must be able to "create a need", which is what every good salesman can do.  He must be able to convince his superiors that he is the only one who can provide the type of assistance and loyalty that an egocentric needs.  I say "egocentric" because the executive who can't see an YUPPIE for what he is, can only be either ineffective himself or is a hopeless "egocentric". The  Predator also is "great" at presentations to Management.  He can produce a mass of reports that inundates his opposition.  He will then quickly flip through transparencies with explanations that most people won't challenge, so that they do not appear to be slow to understand - like students in college who are too bashful to ask questions.  Surprisingly, this is prevalent in the corporate world.      A Predator really ingratiates himself to his superior if he can carry the ball in situations when the boss stumbles, especially in conferences with the boss's peers.  There are occasions when his boss cannot effectively handle the heads of other departments at Staff Meetings,etc.  If he is brought along for backup and can persuade others to accept his boss' programs, the YUPPIE  he is on his way "up".  This, of course, holds true for the non-Predator individual.      The greatest persuasive skills of a Predator, however, are invariably used against people.