As senior executive having maximum impact on the direction and inner workings of the organization, you need thoughtful, objective feedback from your associates and subordinates to accurately gauge the reactions to and implications of your leadership style and your decisions. Often, though, these individuals are reluctant to share their true perceptions with you. It may be that their high regard for you retards their candor, or they may even be afraid of repercussions from their honesty. They might think they'll be viewed as negative, when they're actually trying to be positive and constructive.
The more you might benefit from feedback, the less likely you are to get it due to a phenomenon known as the "leadership paradox." That is, the more senior your position, the greater your need for feedback, and the less likely it is that you will automatically receive it. The most effective executives and leaders overcome this paradox. They solicit, receive and integrate sincere, critical feedback on their styles and practices. A consistent, underlying characteristic of highly successful leaders is their ability to manage themselves — that is to be willing to look at and adapt, when necessary, their own constellation of attributes.
We all have blind spots, and in highly successful people these blind spots often are the flip side of the various strengths for which they have been rewarded in past circumstances. For example, in past positions an executive had been rewarded for demonstrating a firm, take-charge manner. She was promoted into a position of leadership over executives and individuals prominent in their technical field. They resisted her authority and she floundered in the assignment. In this position, her firm style was seen as heavy-handed and as reflecting a need to over-control others. Because she had no way to evaluate her impact on these people, she failed to adjust her leadership style.