Tone Deaf at the Top
“In general, the higher a person goes on the rungs of power and authority,
the more wobbly the ethical ladder.” - Stephen K. Bailey
New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, once a “star” for the response to COVID 19, is now being investigated for falsification of data on nursing home deaths. He also faces charges of sexual misconduct from nearly a dozen women. He’s not alone in falling from grace. Many at the top of their profession have faced such descents. Richard Nixon, Roger Ailes, Ken Lay (Enron), Barry Bonds, Harvey Weinstein and Lori Loughlin come easily to mind as other examples. Why do so many at the pyramid of success engage in significant moral failings? They are not inevitable.
What can happen has been studied. In one experiment, researchers assigned university students to either a high-power or low-power role. When asked to respond to moral dilemmas, such as whether to speed on the way to a meeting, those in high-power positions rated such behaviors as more acceptable if they did them than when others did them. Other researchers also found that those in high power positions condemned cheating more in others than themselves. Harvard Business School’s Max Bazerman calls such thinking “bounded ethicality.”
Leaders usually don’t set out to be unethical but may do so under pressure and stress which lead their emotions to overwhelm moral principles. After the fact, they seek to justify what they’ve done, including to themselves. One approach is moral licensing – convincing oneself that one’s action can be forgiven because “I’m a good person who has done so much good.” This is, of course, rationalization. Another is moral cleansing, trying to wipe away transgressions with renewed (and sometimes highly visible) morally applauded acts. Think in both cases of cyclist Lance Armstrong who established a foundation to fight cancer while he was doping to win races.
Sometimes people at the top may be blind to their unethical behavior because of their sense of stature and moral rectitude. When Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia went hunting with Vice-President Dick Cheney in 2004 and was later asked to recuse himself in a case involving Cheney’s refusal to disclose who was on his White House energy task force, he bristled at even the suggestion that his impartiality would be compromised. Researchers call this “motivated blindness.”
Some who are high on the hierarchy fall prey to what Dean Ludwig and Clinton Longenecker call the Bathsheba Syndrome, after King David who sent a member of his army to almost certain death because he coveted Bathsheba, the soldier’s wife. In short, those at the top can develop an inflated ego and lose focus on what matters, especially when isolated from criticism or pandered to because of their exalted position. The very benefits of hierarchy (e.g. more autonomy, less direct supervision) trap them in moral blinders.
Stanford neuroscientist Robert Sapolsky, in his book Behave, discusses research on Social Dominance Orientation (SDO), a personality trait associated with supporting hierarchy and the preference for one’s in-group as opposed to out-groups. For those with a high SDO, the higher they rise in the hierarchy the more they need to attribute it to being earned and the greater the tendency to attribute the position of those at a lower level as due to lower competence. In short, “I deserve what I have because I’m better.” As he also puts it, “[H]igh-SDO individuals show the greatest increases in automatic prejudices when feeling threatened; more acceptance of bias against low-status out-groups; if male, more tolerance of sexism.” And, “[No] surprise, people emphasize the importance of the hierarchy in which they rank the highest”
It’s also not uncommon for those high on the hierarchy to delegate unethical decisions to those below, as in “do whatever it takes,” then claim plausible deniability when things go wrong. Recall King Henry II’s cry “won’t someone rid me of this meddlesome priest?”, referring to the Archbishop of Canterbury. When four knights then killed Thomas Beckett, Henry could distance himself. Isolation at the top through the use of functional silos in organizations can also encourage subordinates to behave unethically while distancing the leader from those actions. When the Challenger shuttle blew up, top-level NASA officials were for practical purposes isolated from the decision to launch in very cold weather made several levels below.
Those at the top may also benefit, unjustifiably, from the “outcome bias.” If things turn out well, the leader takes the credit and unethical behavior, if known, may be overlooked. Poor results may not be apparent for some time. Indeed, the leader may already have left. The outcome bias enables some corporate leaders to drive up the stock price – and gain accolades - during their tenure with actions harmful to the organization’s future.
It’s not inevitable that those at the top of the hierarchy will stumble. Without foresight and efforts by leaders and others to avoid these ethical traps, however, it can be their fate. Andrew Cuomo can perhaps appreciate this now.
Photo Credit: Rasvan Chisu - unsplash
