Powerful People Are Better Liars

A recent article in Harvard Business Review looks at a study by Professor Dana Carney that concludes that Powerful People are Better Liars. This is one more nail in the coffin of the idea of the charismatic CEO (I’ll post other references to this problem when I get a chance to look them up). Relying on a single charismatic leader, combined with several social cognitive biases, can add up to very dodgy ethical behaviour. If anyone has any contrary opinions on this, I’d be interested to hear it because all the evidence seems to be pointing in one direction. On the other hand, a charismatic leader is sometimes what’s needed to really motivate people to sacrifice for a cause, so it’s a bit of a catch-22. Comments?