It’s not good to have power for too long. You don’t realize the way your voice seems to boom louder than every other voice in the room.

– Robert Iger, The Ride Of A Lifetime

When we are in a leadership position, our perspective is, by default, skewed. We can reduce this bias by endorsing a culture of openness and creating constant feedback loops from smart people who disagree with us. But nevertheless, the longer we are in that position, the louder our voice becomes. To the point where we ourselves can’t recognize it.

At such times, I have found it is useful to take up a new challenging role, preferably one that gives a different perspective. This will reveal to us other viewpoints that are not visible from the high horse we were sitting on earlier. More importantly, it increases empathy as we are forced to acknowledge and learn things that we don’t know.