The argument for distance is that eliminating proximity clarifies the mind and facilitates more objective decision making. But it can also blind one to the details that one would prefer not to see.
The bubble of power seals off bad news, inconvenient details, hostile opinions, and messy realities, leaving you free to inhale the rarefied air of pure abstraction. Like the cave dwellers of Plato’s parable, the powerful watch shadows of outside reality flickering on their walls, grateful to be so comfortably protected from the reality themselves. The rough gives way to the smooth in a frictionless ascent.
The problem is this can lead to a quick downward slide as well!
From the book, Willful Blindness by Margaret Heffernan