Billy understood the dangers of leadership giving up its
authority. Leighton learned that any incipient sense of usurping
Billy’s authority was stepping over a line.
“That was the only time he spoke out that strongly,” he told us.
It does not take multiple confrontations to set parameters.
When a leader is secure in knowing his or her authority, capacities,
limitations, and shared goals, then domination is unnecessary.
In Management of the Absurd, business consultant Richard Far-
son says, “Effective leaders and managers do not regard control
as the main concern. Instead, they approach situations sometimes
as learners, sometimes as teachers, sometimes as both. They trust
the wisdom of the group. Their strength is not in control alone
but in other qualities—passion, sensitivity, tenacity, patience,
courage, firmness, enthusiasm, wonder.”
When the essential leadership positioning is in place, we
believe David Cooper’s admonition is worth careful study—that
“the most central characteristic of authentic leadership is the relin-
quishing of the impulse to dominate others.”
Light Fires, Communicate Trust
Jesuit philosopher Baltasar Graciàn advises, “Know how to
put fire into your subordinates.” Leaders try to do that in many
ways, some effective, and some not. At times, a leader lights
fires under people that singe and burn, or flames blast down on
them as “heat from the boss.” Graciàn advises getting the fire
within the person, where it will drive and energize in a posi-
tive way.
Putting fire into others starts with integrity and a significant
cause. Yet the flames need to be fanned regularly, and a primary
way to do that is through praise.
Wise Ben Franklin understood that, and in a bit of fascinating
correspondence to John Paul Jones, he advised, “If you should
observe an occasion to give your officers and friends a little more
praise than is their due, and confess more fault than you can justly
be charged with, you will only become the sooner for it, a great
captain.”
Empowering Soul Mates