Changed after getting power
Six months after becoming MD they interrupt, stop asking questions, and look at their phone while others speak.
Rule out first
Real overload and less time for small talk. A board pushing them hard. A new role that genuinely needs faster decisions.
What could explain it
Power and disinhibition: Impulses they used to hold back come out: interrupting, crude jokes, flirting, ignoring cues. They don't notice the change.
Hubris syndrome: After years at the top: contempt for advice, talk of destiny or mission, using 'we' as the royal we, loss of contact with detail.
Peter principle: They're out of their depth, and the brusqueness is defensive. With their own boss they're anxious, not grand.
Inflation (ego inflation): They've merged with the role: they speak as the company and treat criticism of the firm as personal.
Dominance and prestige: They've moved from earning respect to commanding it: fear has replaced admiration in the people under them.
A next move
Watch how they treat someone who can't do anything for them now, and compare with how they were before. Worse means power has loosened them; the same with anxiety upward means they're overstretched.
If it’s you
Since I've had more power, what have I stopped noticing?