Does power corrupt? (Yes, but you can control it)

You might like to think that you’ve been promoted to a position of power because you have a track record of good decisions.? And you might be right.? But what impact, if any, does having power have on your decision making?? Does it help or hinder? ?Research shows that when people are conscious of the power they have – of their influence over other people’s experiences and outcomes, for example through deciding their performance ratings, compensation, or the corporate resources they have available to them - it can actually impair the quality of their decisions. Understanding how and why this happens, and how to counteract it, is essential for leaders who want to make the best decisions that get the best results.

The Hidden Impact of Power Having a position of power, where you can exert influence on others’ outcomes and experiences – has positive impacts.? Research shows it increases overall well-being (of the power holder) and leads to faster, more goal oriented actions.? And in some contexts, taking the wrong action fast is better than taking the right action but more slowly.? In these contexts, feeling powerful will have a positive impact on leaders’ ability to deliver results.? But when making the right decision really matters, its impacts are generally not positive.? Here’s what the research says:

1.?Power Reduces Our Ability to See Others’ Perspectives. Being able to see a situation from others’ perspectives is important both for influencing and for coming to the right decision – to ensure all angles are considered.? Its particularly important for consistently taking customer centric decisions.

In one study, participants were asked to draw the letter “E” on their forehead as fast as possible. All participants had two options: to draw the E in a ‘self-oriented’ way, forwards for me but backwards for you when you look at me, or an ‘other-oriented’ way, backwards for me but forwards for you if you look at me. ?People who felt powerful were almost 3 times more likely to draw the E in a self-oriented way, compared with people who felt powerless (Galinsky et al., 2006). Power literally makes people more self-centred.?

2.??????? Power Reduces our Ability to Read Others’ Emotions. Recognising others’ emotions is critical for ‘reading the room’ and knowing when people aren’t saying what they’re thinking.? This is needed to get the right input on the table and ensure psychological safety.

In one study, participants were asked to judge what emotion was being expressed in a series of 24 photos of people’s faces.? Those who were primed to feel powerful made 45% more mistakes than those who were primed to feel powerless (Galinsky et al., 2006).? As a side note they also found that women made significantly less mistakes than men, though they attributed this to women having less power in society.

3.?Power Makes People Less Likely to Take Advice. It may not matter if those with power can’t see others’ perspectives or read their emotions, because research shows that any way they’re less likely to take others’ advice even when they understand it.

In a lab experiment, participants estimated people’s weight, were then made to feel either powerful or powerless, and were later shown another participant’s guess as a data point to inform their guess.? They were then given the option to update their guess. Those who felt powerful weighted the advice they received on average just over 10% into their final guess, whereas those who felt powerless weighted the external advice more than 50%.? The control group gave it about a 30% weight (Tost et al., 2012).

This tendency holds in real-world settings, too. A study of graduate level students at about to enter business school found that those with higher levels of power in their roles were seen as less open to advice and feedback by their peers (See et al., 2011).

4.?Power Makes Us More Susceptible to Cognitive Biases In general, people in positions of power are more likely to use ‘fast’ or ‘system 1’ reasoning.? They use the information that is most easily accessible even when it brings them to wrong conclusions.

One study focused on anchoring bias, the bias that leads us to make wildly different estimates based on where we’ve been ‘anchored’ by others’ suggestions.? Researchers asked participants to estimate the height of the Eiffel Tower, but first they anchored them. Some were asked first to judge if it was higher or lower than 100 feet (this was the low anchor) and other were asked to judge if it was higher or lower than 2500 feet (the high anchor). Those who were made to feel powerful were 76% more influenced by anchoring bias than those who were made to feel powerless (Lammers & Burgmer, 2017).

5.?Power Leads to Overconfidence and Lower Accuracy. All of these biases of people in positions of power are worrying, but so far none of the studies shared establish that, all things considered, the decisions of those in power are worse than those who feel less powerful. However, studies have also shown that overall decision making deteriorates and can lead to financial loss.

Participants in another experiment played the roles of supervisors (high power) or workers (low power). They then took a (bogus) leadership aptitude test, and half were told that their results indicated they were a poor fit for leadership roles, while the other half were told their results indicated they were an excellent fit for leadership roles.? They then took a trivia quiz where they saw questions, answered them, and were then allowed to bet 1$ on whether they were right or wrong.? ‘Supervisors’ who were told they were also great leaders lost more money in their bets than any other group.? Interestingly, ‘Supervisors’ who were told they were not good fits to be leaders did the best (Fast et al., 2012).?

Why Does This Happen? Power increases a person’s confidence in their own judgment, often to an unhealthy degree. Leaders may trust their instincts over objective advice or data, leading to less effective decisions.

The Good News: You Can Mitigate These Effects These downsides aren’t inevitable. The last study shows the profound impact that just a little bit of negative feedback can have on decisions and outcomes.? Research offers strategies to combat the negative impact of power:

1. Seek Constructive Feedback As we saw in the last study, receiving credible negative feedback reduces overconfidence and improves decision-making (Fast et al., 2012). Ask for feedback, not to create a culture of openness but to open your own mind to more possibilities and to better decision making.
2. Practice Perspective-Taking Using ‘personas’ with employees, customers or other stakeholders can force you to take others’ perspectives.
3. Put yourself in a ‘low power’ mindset, temporarily Most of the studies cited here made people feel powerful or powerless by asking them to recall times when they were in a powerful position, or when they were subject to the power of others, and write about it.? Recalling times when you were subject to others’ power and reflecting on this before taking decisions will make you a better decision maker.

How have you seen this play out with leaders and in yourself?