Authority should make careful listening more important, not less.

Authority reduces the amount of honest information reaching you, which means listening has to get better exactly when it becomes easier to skip. The higher you go, the more filtered your inputs, and the more you must actively work to hear things that no one has an incentive to say.

Build in a channel for unfiltered information. One person who is safe to be blunt, one regular question you ask and genuinely wait for the answer to. Then respond well the first time it is used.