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During an appearance on Barstool Sports’ Bussin’ With The Boys podcast, Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chief tight end Travis Kelce revealed one of the many reasons he admires his superstar girlfriend, Taylor Swift.
He explained how she “understands situations,” big and small, a skill that can sometimes elude powerful people who might get used to the feeling that everything is about them. “She’s very self-aware. And I think that’s why I really started to really fall for her, was how genuine she is around friends [and] family,” he said. “It can get crazy for somebody with that much attention … and she just keeps it so chill and so cool.”
Writing about power in the Harvard Business Review, Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro say, “We are all susceptible to its intoxicating effects. Essential though power is to taking charge and leading change, it makes you vulnerable to two insidious traps — hubris and self-focus — that can not only erode your own effectiveness but also undermine your team’s.”
People who have achieved great heights of success can lead to a kind of blindness to the people around and their experiences, they write, which leads to diminishing performance all around. “You can’t lead colleagues you don’t understand — and people aren’t motivated or able to contribute their best efforts if they perceive that you are disconnected from and uninterested in them. You might be able to push through in the short term, but eventually their performance will suffer and your leadership may be called into question,” write the authors.
As we’ve all seen in the news, Swift is an extremely empathetic leader, stopping her performances mid-show to call out for help on behalf of distressed audience members and always taking the time to publicly thank staff members of the venues she’s performing in.
Leaders who are able to cultivate cultures of humility and empathy and accountability, say Battilana and Casciaro, avoid the pitfalls of hubris and self-absorption and boost their own effectiveness as well as the performance of their teams.