Sometimes, Moving Up Makes It Harder to See What Goes On Below By Carol Hymowitz ...Ken Siegel, an organizational psychologist and president of the Impact Group in Los Angeles, believes that most CEOs avoid learning what their employees are thinking and doing. He advises those who want to get to the truth to assemble a senior team of people with diverse points of view. "Instead of surrounding them with executives who think just like they do, they need people down the hall who are their opposites, have very different strengths and push them to see reality differently," he says. What's more common is for CEOs to find one confidante to confer with who usually isn't a direct report. Riza Berkan, CEO of Hakia, a search-engine start-up, talks several times a week with board chairman and investor Pentii Kouri. "He gives me a perspective I don't have -- about people as well as finance matters," says Dr. Berkan, a computer scientist. When an investor said he wanted to attend board meetings, "I was ready to get into a fight, but Pentii encouraged me to win his understanding" and convince him that only directors would attend. ... Posted at: http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB119240607692558680.html