Whether you’re a frontline supervisor in your first management role or the CEO of a global multinational, being the boss changes you. Part of this is simply leaders adapting to the challenges and pressures inherent in all positions of power. Things like the wider scope of responsibilities, greater decision complexity, and heavier workloads.
However, a growing body of research shows that another part of what power does to people occurs at a deeper level, subtly yet fundamentally altering how leaders think and feel. This runs so deep that it has been shown to lead to changes in brain structure and chemistry. And now, evidence is mounting that broader societal changes are amplifying these effects, creating greater challenges for leaders and greater risks for the organizations they lead.
For the most part, the mechanisms through which being a leader affects you are the same whatever your level. The only difference is that the higher you go, the stronger the pressure they apply on you, so the more likely you are to be changed by them. Three mechanisms stand out as being the most influential.
IT INCREASES DISTANCE
The first thing power does is increase the psychological distance between leaders and the people they lead. On the plus side, positioning individuals above others tends to make them feel better about themselves, increasing self-esteem and confidence, to the extent that they are more prone to over-confidence. It also gives leaders a helicopter view, making it easier for them to see things more abstractly and to ignore potentially distracting details.
But this greater abstract thinking also means leaders are more likely to use stereotypes and generalizations. And the psychological distance involved in all this makes leaders more liable to objectify others and view them as resources, and less able to see things from their perspective or understand how they feel.
IT WARPS INFORMATION FLOW
Power also alters the flow of information to and from leaders, changing what they see, hear, and communicate, partly due to the greater distance created by being the boss. For starters, it increases leaders’ tendency to rely on what they already know and makes them less sensitive to contextual information and less able to hear others’ opinions. This, in turn, leaves them more susceptible to subjective biases.
And exacerbating all of this, because leaders have power over others, people are less likely to be open with them and less likely to challenge their thinking. Finally, their greater sensitivity to internal information means that leaders are more likely to focus on salient goals, which can often mean short-term ones and sometimes personal ones.
IT AMPLIFIES WHAT LIES WITHIN
The third main mechanism is potentially the most important: People with power are more likely to act in accordance with their emotions, preferences, personalities, values, and personal goals. In other words, power amplifies the default and instinctive tendencies within people.
This can be for the better, enhancing strengths. But it can also magnify weaknesses. So, if you’re prone to overconfidence, power usually makes you more so. If you’re susceptible to indecision, being in charge can make this worse. And if you are more task-focused than people-focused, being the boss will only further impair your ability to empathize.
This is also why the adage that power corrupts people is oversimplified and— ultimately—wrong. Yes, the greater psychological distance and warped perspective seem to make some people more likely to act selfishly and find lying easier. But power doesn’t corrupt everyone. It actually increases benevolent and principled behavior in some people. So, power doesn’t corrupt people; it just reveals and amplifies the propensity for corruption that’s already there.
THE POWER OF CONTEXT
However, individual differences are not the only factor determining the precise effects of power. The effects of power also vary across situations. For instance, when there are fewer checks and balances on leaders, the effects of all three mechanisms tend to be stronger. This is why the more established leaders become, the more they tend to be influenced by the effects of power. The more powerful leaders are, the more exaggerated the expression of their inner character and instincts tends to be.
There is something else here, too. When leaders feel overly insecure in their role, they tend to focus on securing their position and pursuing short-term and personal goals. And that rarely drives positive or useful behaviors. This is where we get to the kicker, because on almost every metric measurable, leadership roles are less secure than ever before. Add to that a broader societal trend toward impression management and an apparent growing intolerance of differing viewpoints, and it is easy to see why so many researchers view leadership positions as more isolated and precarious than ever before. And as they become ever more so, the leaders who hold these roles become more vulnerable to the effects of power.
CASCADING IMPACT
What makes all this so important is that leaders are not solo operators. The very nature of their role means that their behavior affects not just themselves, but also their teams. And through this, leaders have a cascading, trickle-down impact on everyone in their organization.
This is why, for all the many ways power can affect leaders, ultimately it is leaders who often have a greater impact on the power they hold. They don’t just affect the way the people beneath them behave, they also change the expectations people have of leaders in general and how leaders behave. This is why toxic leaders can be so damaging. They poison the well for the leaders who follow them, undermining not just how much people trust them personally but also how much people trust leaders generally.
IMPLICATIONS
There are implications here for both leaders and organizations. For leaders, part of the challenge here is that it is rare to find an organization that supports leaders by helping them understand how they, as individuals, can spot and manage the effects of power. Until this changes, leaders need to take steps to protect themselves. And the starting point here should be to sense-check the degree to which they are retaining objectivity, remaining well-informed, and connecting with others’ perspectives. Creating, in other words, checks and balances for themselves.
For organizations, there is a need to start talking more openly about power and the role it plays. Executives need to more explicitly evaluate how individuals might be changed by power when selecting leaders and to balance the focus on what leaders can do for the business with what they will do to it, through the way in which they wield their power. They need to invest in preparing leaders for the challenges of how power will change them.
Whether we recognize it or not, power does things to us. It can enhance our strengths, but it also amplifies our weaknesses. And because we are leaders, the aspects of ourselves that become amplified are inevitably cascaded onto the people who work for us. We may not immediately see these effects, but they are there. And the only debatable thing is whether we—as leaders—take steps to understand and better manage them.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nik Kinley is a London-based leadership consultant, assessor, and coach who has written eight books and is currently working on his ninth, exploring how power affects leaders.
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