A key leadership paradox is having the most communication channels but receiving the most filtered information, as people avoid sharing bad news. To get the truth, leaders must create a "listening infrastructure" by cultivating trusted confidants and actively rewarding those who deliver difficult news.

To bridge the growing gap between leadership and individual contributors, executives should actively participate in their team's tasks. Taking a support ticket, sitting in on a sprint, or pair programming serves as a "Gemba walk" that provides firsthand experience and maintains an empathetic connection.

As leaders rise, direct reports are less likely to provide challenging feedback, creating an executive bubble. To get unfiltered information, leaders should schedule regular one-on-ones with employees several levels down the org chart with the express purpose of listening, not dictating.

As an organization scales, some leaders become skilled at managing up while being poor managers to their teams. Executives must conduct regular skip-level meetings with frontline employees to get direct, unfiltered feedback and catch these bad behaviors that would otherwise be hidden.

Feedback often gets 'massaged' and politicized as it travels up the chain of command. Effective leaders must create direct, unfiltered channels to hear from customers and front-line employees, ensuring raw data isn't sanitized before it reaches them.

Integrity isn't a passive value but an active, daily practice. By adopting a nightly self-interrogation—asking, "Did I act for my own benefit at another's expense?"—leaders can build a foundation of trust. This makes other leadership traits, like empathy and compassion, believable and effective rather than appearing performative.

To eliminate the blind spots that undermine leadership, practice "proactive teachability." Go beyond passively accepting feedback and directly ask trusted colleagues, "Where am I blind?" This vulnerability not only fosters growth but also builds the referent power that makes others want to follow you.

To counteract the unconscious changes that come with power, leaders should pre-commit to their values. Identify two or three mentors or peers who will tell you the uncomfortable truth and hold you accountable to a written list of personal red lines you create before your values begin to shift.

Neuroscience research shows that gaining power diminishes activity in mirror neurons, the brain's empathy centers. This is not a metaphor; your boss may become neurologically less capable of understanding your perspective after being promoted.