The Relationship Between Hierarchy and Wealth

I am very skeptical of her use of “power distance.”

She’s using it as a proxy for “power is evenly distributed vs. power is concentrated at the top of the hierarchy.”  But, as described – by her, in her paraphrase! as well as in other materials – it is not actually that thing at all.  It’s a measure of the social norms and courtesies associated with power differentials.  In Norway and at Google, your boss has an open door policy and expects you to consider him a friend with whom you can interact as a trusted peer; in Japan and at Global Consolidated Conglomerated Widget Corp., your boss expects formal honorifics and obsequious shows of agreement; but in both of these cases, what your boss says is ultimately what goes, and your boss can fire you if he is so inclined. 

There are reasons to prefer low power distance and reasons to prefer high power distance.  Different people thrive in different circumstances, if nothing else.  But having a friendly-acting low-formality boss is not actually going to prevent you from suffering all the stresses that come with lacking power.  That requires something considerably more radical.