Power Creates Psychological Distance
“Great power involves great responsibility.” — Franklin D. Roosevelt
Everyone wants to feel powerful—that’s human nature, and there’s nothing wrong with that. It’s why we gun for promotions and seek out advancement. It’s why anyone runs for political office. But once you get that power, it changes the way you think, perceive, and relate—and not always in good ways.
Why Powerful People Struggle to Understand Victims
“Power tends to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” — Lord Acton, in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton, April 5, 1887
We tend to think of the corrupting influence of power in intentional, purposeful, and conscious terms. But it’s really much more devious than that.