India, Nov. 15 -- Behavioural science shows that extreme power not only tempts top leaders; it systematically rewires how they calculate risk, governance, and national security.

When a billionaire chief executive, defence contractor, or top geopolitical official is caught in an extramarital scandal, public commentary sticks to tabloid morality, of an individual with limitless resources succumbing to basic human temptation. In the modern global economy, high-tech founders oversee critical defence infrastructure and have more power than nation-states. Their secret affairs cascade into boardroom mutinies, wipe out shareholder value, and trigger urgent counterintelligence investigations. To understand why leaders with extraordinary wealth, a...