As someone who’s recently been promoted, I need to be extremely self-aware about what I’m doing, what I’m saying, why, how, and how others are perceiving it.
As Bob Sutton quotes Dacher Keltner’s The Power Paradox, positional power is a very dangerous thing:
He argues that — contrary to the claims of many experts, going back to Machiavelli — that people who are selected for powerful positions and are able to hold them are characterized by modesty and empathy. BUT he shows that being put in a position of power turns people into them into worse decision-makers, makes them more likely to act on their whims and desires, and makes them more likely to interrupt others, to to speak out of turn, to fail to look at others when they are speaking, and to tease others in hostile ways.
I think the key is being open to criticism, not closing your mind to new learning, and having people around you that will call you on BS behavior and actions. That’s something I don’t think I can ever stop working on.