The blind leading: Power reduces awareness of constraints. (2012)

“Organizations need to anticipate the tendency of their most powerful members to leap without looking. The remedy is to surround them with people who can see other angles, or can play a devil’s advocate role to point out risk

Jennifer A. Whitson, University of Texas, McCombs School of Business
Katie A. Liljenquist, Brigham Young University, Marriott School of Management
Adam D. Galinsky, Columbia University, Columbia Business School
Joe C. Magee, New York University, Stern School of Business
Deborah H. Gruenfeld, Stanford University, Stanford Graduate School of Business
Brian Cadena, University of Colorado, Department of Economics

Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 49 (2013) 579–582

Two experiments found that, compared to low-power individuals, high-power individuals recalled less goal-constraining information and generated fewer potential constraints that would prevent the protagonist of a story from completing his goal.

“Organizations need to anticipate the tendency of their most powerful members to leap without looking,” said study co-author Katie Liljenquist, a professor of organizational leadership at BYU’s Marriott School of Management. “The remedy is to surround them with people who can see other angles, or can play a devil’s advocate role to point out risk. Interestingly, it is the low-power members of the organization who are best equipped to do this.”

Access the full paper here: The blind leading