💾 Archived View for gmi.noulin.net › mobileNews › 6017.gmi captured on 2023-09-08 at 17:33:34. Gemini links have been rewritten to link to archived content
⬅️ Previous capture (2023-01-29)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2016-04-29 09:04:43
Adam Waytz
April 27, 2016
Both power and loneliness are studied extensively in the social sciences, yet
few researchers have examined the relationship between the two. So my
colleagues and I conducted eight studies to do exactly that, finding evidence
that it s not quite as lonely at the top as most of us assume. In our research,
attaining power actually led people to feel less isolated from others, and
lacking it led them to feel more isolated.
While debunking conventional wisdom can be satisfying, it s important to think
about the limits of these conclusions. Consider this comment by Thomas J.
Saporito, chair and CEO of the leadership consulting firm RHR International: I
ve spoken with 200 plus CEOs, [and] there are precious few that didn t, in the
privacy of our discussions, talk about loneliness. Saporito s observation
syncs up with polling data by Harris Interactive Service Bureau in which about
half of CEOs reported experiencing some loneliness in their role.
Why the disconnect between those leaders experiences and our findings? Here
are a few possible explanations.
Sustained and temporary power are two different beasts. For starters, it s
critical to remember that our research involved temporarily inducing people to
experience high or low power and then measuring their loneliness. In some
studies, for instance, we randomly assigned subjects to a boss role, giving
them a few dollars and telling them they could allocate as much or as little of
this windfall as they d like to a subordinate participant. In another, we
asked subjects to ruminate either on the ways they have power in their lives or
on the ways they lack it.
People in the high-power conditions consistently reported less loneliness than
those in low-power or neutral conditions but it s possible that experiencing
a fleeting sense of power boosts social connection, whereas occupying a
high-power role for a sustained period generates feelings of isolation. This
distinction warrants further examination.
Having sole responsibility for tough decisions might make a difference. In a
study by School for CEOs, 93% of chairs and CEOs indicated that prospective
CEOs require more preparation for the role than they typically get, especially
to ready themselves for the loneliness and ultimate accountability that lie
ahead. One respondent stated, People underestimate the human dynamics of the
situation, whether it be loneliness or the reality that if you screw up, there
s nobody to help.
The stakes were lower in the kinds of judgment calls my colleagues and I looked
at in our eight studies, so it may be that power increases loneliness when it
involves sole responsibility for exceedingly tough decisions nobody wants to
make how to cut costs, whom to fire, how to change an organization s course.
We actually found evidence for this pattern in an unpublished study while
examining the boundary conditions of our other findings. We asked some people
to imagine being a head doctor with sole responsibility for deciding to take a
premature baby off a ventilator; we asked others to imagine being a junior
doctor who observes this decision but has no responsibility. The first group
reported greater loneliness than the second.
Subjective and objective isolation don t always match up. A study by Stanford s
Center for Leadership Development and Research found that nearly two-thirds of
CEOs are relatively isolated, receiving no coaching or leadership advice from
outside coaches or consultants. This finding speaks to an important distinction
between objective and subjective isolation. That is, the number of connections
you have does not necessarily correspond to how connected you feel. You can
have very few trusted advisers and feel socially connected; you can have
hundreds and feel alone.
By hierarchy s very nature, CEOs are often quite objectively alone at their
organizational level and may have few links to outside advisers. Yet,
critically, our studies measured how connected people felt, consistently
finding that no matter how many connections people actually had, greater power
meant decreased subjective isolation.
Clearly, the relationship between power and loneliness is complicated, and we
urge future research to examine its nuances. Our work merely provides a first
step toward greater understanding.
Adam Waytz is an associate professor of management and organizations at
Northwestern University s Kellogg School of Management.