Powerful leaders who fail to listen to their audience and take its perspective into account in a difficult or crisis situation are likely to fail in leadership when it is required most, a study suggests.
Researchers cite as an example the current situation of the National Football League's handling of the case of Ray Rice, in which NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell may have failed to listen to portions of his audience -- former players, media, domestic violence activist groups -- in making the ultimately controversial initial decision to simply suspend Rice after a video showed him knocking his then-fiancé unconscious.
Leaders who don't listen carefully to what is being said around them have a much greater likelihood of mishandling an issue and its surrounding conversation, the study by the Columbia Business School suggests.
"Effective leadership is like a successful car ride. To go places, you need gas and acceleration -- power is a psychological accelerator," says study co-author Adam Galinsky. "But you also need a good steering wheel so you don't crash as you speed down the highway -- perspective-taking is that psychological steering wheel.
"When you anchor too heavily onto your own perspective, and don't take into account the viewpoints of others, you are bound to crash," he says.
Leaders in positions that grant them power who are able to view the world from someone else's point of view consistently perform better in crisis situations, he says.
While power can push a leader closer to his expressed goal, it tends to overemphasize the importance of their own viewpoint and outlook, making it difficult for them to incorporate the perspectives of others, Galinsky says.
Still, perspective by itself is insufficient if a leader has not attained a level of power that allows them to assert themselves and initiate change, he says.
It takes both, Galinsky asserts; power with perspective creates an environment that leads to the best decisions when a leader or the group he leads is faced with a situation of complex problems.
For that reason, leaders who can see the issue from other points of view, whether they are CEOs, military commanders, politicians or -- yes -- sports commissioners, are likely to make decisions that lead to better outcomes, Galinsky concludes.
The research findings were published in Social Psychological and Personality Science.
