November 20, 2007
Authority vs. Leadership
In his book The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership, author John Maxwell writes that “Leadership is influence - nothing more, nothing less.” I didn’t necessarily buy that at first. Sure, there was an influence component in leadership, but I felt there was certainly more to it than that. In my world as a military officer, for example, I felt that rank, background and experience was at least as important as influence - maybe more so.
What I eventually found was that knowledge and experience were nice things to have - often essential to successfully accomplish tasks - but not requirements for leadership. (World War II hero Audie Murphy, for example, was an undeniable leader even as a raw rookie soldier in his first battle.) And military rank (think “title” or “position” in the civilian world) is more of an indicator of authority than leadership ability. In my podcast I outline what I think is the difference between the two.
I’d really like to know your thoughts on this! (5:08)
1 Comment on Authority vs. Leadership »
November 30, 2007
Karen Zapp @ 2:09 pm:
Wiz - You hit the nail on the head with this post.
It immediately reminded me of a time when I was the XO (second in command) of a battalion. My commanding officer (CO) heard about an alleged incident with 3 of our junior officers while we were forward deployed to Puerto Rico. He directed me to hold a mock Captain’s Mast - he couldn’t do this himself because then it would HAVE to go on the official record. He wanted me to chew them out royally and let the 3 officers know their behavior was unacceptable and they were just as accountable for their actions as anyone else.
In principle I was in agreement. But I debated with the CO - as best I could given our relative positions of authority - to let me quietly ask some questions first and gather more facts. You see, the accusations just didn’t fit the reputation and past behavior of the 3 officers in question. All we had was an interpretation from a person who observed something from a distance.
Well, the CO used his authority and directed me to hold the mock Captain’s Mast.
During the mast I quickly found out that reality was far from perception. The observer’s interpretation and conclusions were all wrong. The officers did absolutely nothing wrong or even remotely wrong. One giant misunderstanding! And the 3 officers were humiliated (no way could this mock Mast be conducted secretly), embarrassed, and offended that they weren’t at least given the respect of being able to explain before action was taken.
Unfortunately our CO reacted quickly and exercised his authority and not his leadership. I believe the course of action actually undermined his leadership a bit.
Now I don’t want to sound like I’m perfect! Far from it. But I am more inclined to ask some probing questions before leaping into action.
So you shared a great example of using leadership backed by authority for a positive outcome. My example is in contrast: Authority was exercised too quickly without being tempered by sound leadership, thereby tarnishing reputations in the process.
Keep those pearls of leadership wisdom coming!
Karen