Free Friend and Foe: When to Cooperate, When to Compete, and How to Succeed at Both by Adam Galinsky, Maurice Schweitzer Page B

powerful see the others on the highway and fosters more cooperation from those with less power. Thus, the ability to see the world through the eyes of others can help the powerful stay in power—and be effective as well.
    Research we have done with Joe Magee of NYU has established a number of benefits of combining power and perspective-taking. For one, it helps us solve problems more effectively. We have found that when the powerful member of the team is primed with an exercise in perspective-taking, it increases the team’s ability to share critical information. In one study, when we gave the powerful a dose of perspective-taking, these individuals led their group to make better decisions by increasing the amount of information the team discussed and shared.
    Just as a car needs both acceleration and a steering wheel to reach its destination, people need power
and
perspective-taking to be successful…and to hold on to their throne.
    So how can we get the powerful to become more effective perspective-takers? One way is to direct their attention toward team objectives. Leigh Tost of the University of Michigan found that she could get the powerful to integrate and consider the perspective and advice of experts when she directed their attention toward the team goal of making the best decision. When powerful individuals focus on team goals rather than their own selfish goal of retaining power, they are more likely to realize that others have something unique to contribute.
    Another method is to hold the powerful accountable for their decisions, to make the powerful explain their policies and articulate their rationale behind their actions. Indeed, our research has found that accountability steers the powerful to consider the perspectives of important stakeholders.
    One final tip for harnessing power without its side effects of hubris and selfishness is to select leaders who already have a pretty good psychological steering wheel. An old piece of advice for those on first dates comes into play here: Watch how your date treats the waitstaff at dinner. They may be on their best behavior with you, but how they treat those with less power can portend their treatment of you when you are weak or vulnerable. Indeed, Roos Vonk of Radboud Universiteit found that people who kiss up but kick down are considered to be the slimiest of them all.
    This kind of test is especially important when selecting leaders because it helps to expose who is most prone to abusing power. Because the powerful are less dependent on and less constrained by others, how they choose to use their power reveals their true nature. A quote by Robert Green Ingersoll when describing Abraham Lincoln eloquently captures this point: “If you want to test a man’s character, give him power.” With power, the constraints that normally govern how we act and behave recede and we become the truest form of ourselves.
    So yes, it is good to be the king. And it is good to remain the king. Our research suggests that when the powerful develop the ability to see the world through the perspectives of others, they are more likely to retain their throne. Power paired with perspective-taking leads to stronger and more enduring kingdoms.
    Here, we have considered how power influences our behavior at the individual level. Next, we turn to the question of power in groups and explore when having a steep hierarchy wins…and when it kills.

3
When Hierarchy Wins… A nd When It Loses
    F ather Michael Pfleger, a Catholic priest located on the south side of Chicago, committed a cardinal sin. His sin wasn’t betraying his oath of sexual celibacy. It also didn’t involve financial fraud, embezzlement, or corporate malfeasance. No, his crime was simply speaking up and publicly defying a direct order of the Catholic Church.
    Father Pfleger was barely in his 30s when he became the youngest full pastor in the Chicago diocese. Armed with this early rise to power, Father Pfleger gained notoriety