Watching a manipulative coworker climb the corporate ladder through calculation rather than merit feels deeply unsettling. Machiavellian personalities view the workplace as a chess board, constantly plotting several moves ahead while treating colleagues as pawns in their game.
Recognizing these strategic operators early allows you to protect yourself from their schemes. Unlike impulsive troublemakers, Machiavellian coworkers execute long-term plans with patience and precision. Their tactics often remain invisible until they’ve already stomped on your face to push themselves up the corporate ladder.
The following signs reveal the most concerning Machiavellian behaviors, arranged from most to least severe.
1. They sabotage others’ work to gain or maintain a superior position.
Career-destroying schemes happen more often than many realize. Machiavellian coworkers deliberately undermine projects, “accidentally” delete important files, or withhold crucial information just before deadlines.
What makes these actions particularly devious is the calculated risk assessment behind them. Your Machiavellian colleague has already weighed potential consequences against benefits, ensuring their sabotage remains untraceable.
Noticing unexplained setbacks that mysteriously benefit one specific person warrants immediate attention. Pay close attention when someone consistently appears unbothered or even slightly pleased when projects fall apart.
Remember that Machiavellians seek plausible deniability above all else. Rarely will you catch them in blatant sabotage—instead, look for patterns of convenient failures that consistently benefit the same individual.
2. They undermine colleagues behind their backs to supervisors.
Whispered conversations stop abruptly when you approach. Your ideas receive lukewarm responses in meetings but somehow transform into concerns when discussed with management.
Machiavellian undermining operates through subtle reputation damage rather than direct confrontation. Your colleague smiles warmly while casually mentioning your “challenges” with that recent project to your boss.
Skilled operators plant seeds of doubt through seemingly innocent questions: “Has anyone checked Sarah’s numbers? I’m sure they’re fine, but…” The real damage happens in conversations you’ll never witness.
Management suddenly cooling toward you without explanation often signals behind-the-scenes manipulation. Particularly cunning Machiavellians might even offer sympathetic support after your reputation takes hits they themselves orchestrated, cementing their appearance as allies while undermining you.
3. They present radically different personas to subordinates versus superiors.
Watching your tyrannical team leader transform into a charming, thoughtful professional around executives reveals Machiavellian versatility at work. I once had a colleague—let’s call him Mark—who performed this chameleon act flawlessly. With junior staff, Mark was dismissive and harsh, barely acknowledging their presence. Yet the moment our director entered, he morphed into an enthusiastic mentor, placing his arm around the same employees he’d ignored moments earlier.
Many colleagues adjust communication styles contextually—Machiavellians maintain entirely separate identities. What made Mark’s behavior so unsettling was the completeness of his transformation. The team members experiencing his harsh side remained shocked when describing their boss’s behavior to others who only saw the polished version.
Senior leaders often dismiss complaints as personality conflicts, unaware of the orchestrated deception. Mark’s performance was so convincing that when junior staff finally raised concerns, management struggled to believe them.
So, listen carefully when colleagues from different organizational levels describe the same person—radical inconsistencies signal Machiavellian adaptation.
4. They position themselves as indispensable by hoarding key knowledge or client relationships.
Crucial information mysteriously flows through a single gatekeeper in your department. Meetings stall until one specific person arrives with the “missing pieces” everyone needs.
Strategic information hoarders create dependency by ensuring critical knowledge remains exclusively theirs. Client contact information, database passwords, and procedural knowledge become carefully guarded assets rather than shared resources.
Note how documentation mysteriously remains incomplete or outdated in their domain. Knowledge transfer sessions somehow conclude without transferring actual knowledge. Questions receive vague answers that necessitate returning for clarification later.
Particularly sophisticated operators make themselves essential through relationship monopolies—becoming the sole meaningful contact for key clients or partners. Attempts to establish direct communication with these contacts often meet unexpected roadblocks, maintaining their position as the indispensable connection point.
5. They form carefully calculated alliances and coalitions within the organization.
Office alliances form naturally, but Machiavellian coalition-building resembles political campaigning more than friendship.
Mark, my chameleon-like former colleague, executed this strategy masterfully. Within six months of joining our company, he’d mapped the entire influence structure and cultivated strategic relationships with every decision-maker. His lunch calendar read like a who’s-who of organizational power, scheduled months in advance with careful precision.
Strategic operators like Mark identify power centers and systematically cultivate relationships with influential figures. Nothing happened accidentally in his social calendar. I remember watching him abruptly cancel a lunch with a manager after news of a department restructure leaked, immediately redirecting his attention to the newly empowered team.
Organizational restructuring reveals these calculated networks most clearly. When our company merged departments, Mark maintained his influence despite complete leadership changes. He had developed cross-functional relationships precisely to weather such changes.
6. They form connections purely based on usefulness and power dynamics.
Professional relationships normally blend practical and personal elements. Machiavellian connections lack this balance entirely—every interaction serves a specific purpose in their advancement strategy.
Watching their networking patterns reveals telling inconsistencies. Warm engagement with potential allies suddenly cools when expected benefits fail to materialize. Colleagues who lose influence find themselves abruptly displaced from their inner circle.
Conversations remain strangely transactional, circling back to career advancement opportunities or strategic information gathering. Personal questions serve as data collection rather than genuine interest.
Pay attention to how they discuss relationships when their guard drops. References to “useful contacts” or categorizing people by what they can provide reveals their instrumental approach. Everyone exists on a mental spreadsheet of potential value, regularly updated as organizational dynamics shift.
7. They take credit for others’ work through subtle repositioning.
Collaborative projects gradually transform into personal accomplishments through linguistic sleight of hand. Your contribution to last month’s successful launch somehow becomes “the project I developed” in team meetings.
Master credit-takers employ pronouns strategically—”we” during development becomes “I” during recognition. Presentation slides subtly reposition ownership through careful word choice and strategic highlighting.
Initial acknowledgments of team effort gradually fade as the narrative evolves. Emails to leadership emphasize their specific contributions while minimizing others’ work through selective detail.
Most revealingly, watch how project stories change when different audiences hear them. The version shared with you differs markedly from what reaches senior management. The narrative gradually transforms until their leadership role becomes the central element, while your contributions fade into vague supporting mentions.
8. They offer help with clear expectations of future reciprocation.
Generous assistance arrives precisely when needed, seeming almost too perfect. Your Machiavellian colleague steps in during your crisis, solving problems with remarkable efficiency.
Unlike genuine helpfulness, transactional assistance comes with unspoken but clearly implied expectations. Favors function as deposits into an account they intend to withdraw from later.
The true nature of their assistance reveals itself when they need something in return. Casual references to “remember when I helped with…” signal the reciprocation phase has begun. Declining such requests triggers disproportionate disappointment or subtle retaliation.
Help offered in conspicuously public settings often serves as reputation building rather than genuine assistance. Watch for helpers who ensure witnesses appreciate their generosity, particularly when higher-status colleagues observe. True support happens regardless of visibility, while calculated assistance requires an audience.
9. They belittle colleagues’ accomplishments or expertise.
Achievements receive immediate contextualization from your Machiavellian colleague. Your successful project launch faces immediate qualification: “Of course, that approach works for smaller clients…”
Subtle expertise undermining happens through seemingly innocent questions that plant doubt. “Interesting approach—did you consider the standard method?” creates uncertainty without offering actual alternatives.
Compliments arrive wrapped in diminishing language. “Not bad for someone with your background” or “Much better than I expected” deliver praise while simultaneously establishing hierarchical positioning.
Professional jealousy explains some workplace negativity, but Machiavellian diminishment serves strategic purposes beyond emotion. Reducing others’ perceived value increases their relative standing without requiring additional accomplishment. Each dismissive comment forms part of a larger campaign to position themselves as the ultimate authority within the team.
Some final thoughts.
Recognizing these Machiavellian behaviors empowers you to protect your career from calculated manipulation. Remember that these coworkers view the workplace as a zero-sum game where your loss enables their gain. Document troubling patterns, build genuine relationships with colleagues, and maintain professional boundaries. While confronting manipulators directly rarely succeeds, awareness of their tactics prevents you from becoming an unwitting pawn in their career chess match. Your best defense remains vigilance and strategic distance.
