Home » The Leadership Triangle - Part II

As promised, here is part two of The Leadership Triangle.

 

As yo u may recall, the first aspect of leadership is understanding Authority, its role, where it derives from, and how to apply it properly.

 

A second side of the leadership triangle is that of Power. We all know the rubric of "absolute power corrupts absolutely." Let's put that one to bed shall we? Fact is, only God has absolute power and it has never corrupted Him. So, another cliche clinched!

 

Do people abuse power? Everyday! Do other people properly apply power? More than those who abuse it. How do I know? The world is not in total chaos!

 

Fact is, a natural boundary is built into the use of Power and that is (at least in a North American context) the checks and balances of a capitalistic system under legislative guidance with executive leadership. (Notice the trinity aspect of our form of government?) What I mean is that power is exercised to the limits of what people will tolerate. When someone abuses power, not only are they responsible for the abuse, but to a larger part, so are the abused. In a society that emphasizes victimization to the point that we feel entitled to feeling like victims, the inevitable result is people will see this leadership vacuum and step into it.

 

What I mean is that victimization is, in itself, a lack of leadership, on a personal level. We have the lives we WANT to because we do nothing to change it. Admittedly, some people make half-hearted attempts to grow out of the victim cycle, but they usually quit because the effort is too great, because they don't have the support system they believe they deserve, their parents were poor-uneducated-black-asian-middle-easter-hillbillies, ignorant, depressed, druggies, unintelligent, and so on. Those are all excuses.

 

Do you realize what you have just read? Do you know that the right expression of power begins with exercising the power to choose differently than the excuses we have all made in the past? The antithesis of a right expression of power is passivity!

 

Power is useless until it is used. Lighting is electrical energy. It's power is expressed in destructive forces. Yet, electrical energy is also derived from operation of a dam and expresses its owner's wishes through productive power. One source of power is untamed, the other tames. In a similar fashion, undisciplined power harms, disciplined power with a good purpose brings about positive change.

 

Why do you want power? To force people to follow? If you are truly under authority, and express your authority as an extension of the authorities over you (and we will NOT address the exceptions to the rule as that is just a way of rejecting the whole concept--just another way of expressing passivity and victimization rather than growth) then you expect people to recognize that authority and follow your leadership. However, if you take advantage of that authority, say, a soldier sent to guard a group of people, but you see it as a way to victimize those people, then you will pay the consequences for not staying under the authority you were given. Those people SHOULD revolt.

 

Despots, tyrants, dictators, all have two things in common: A narcissistic need for people to perceive them as gods, and a group of people willing to surrender their individual freedoms in order to be released from personal responsibility for their lives. This is a transaction of disastrous proportions.

 

However, for the person who understands and accepts his/her authority, they recognize that power is best used in small measures. Primitive force rarely accomplishes fine art. Leadership is the right expression of power for the purpose of fullfiling an inherent mission that comes from being in authority.

 

Authorities, as noted in Part I, stand before others and declare a vision that they believe will help people accomplish their mutual goals--goals too large to be accomplished alone. Culture, civilization, government, order, and economies cannot be accomplished alone. They require that ever larger groups of people come into agreement that certain things must be established as a group for individuals to have a safe environment within which to establish personal goals.

 

Power then, requires sharing. We learned earlier than shared authority (delegation) is the natural consequence of shared vision. Shared power is the natural consequence of shared authority. One flows to the next. Power is abused when persons reject the authority over them, and the inherent responsibility to share power with those under them. Power is not a resource for hoarding. Power is simply one of the means by which authority is expressed.

 

Does power have to be expressed in war? Yes! Yes! Should we wait until an enemy attacks us before we express our own power? In our culture today, we find it uncivilized to be the first to shoot. However, does an enemy have greater rights to "shoot first" than we have to "defend first"?

 

Let's bring it to work! You know old Fred over there loves to undercut those under his authority. He loves face time with the boss. The boss has one perception of Fred, and based on Fred's reports, Fred is the go-getter that makes everything work. In reality, the people responsible to Fred, have picked up on the fact that Fred manipulates everything to his advantage. The boss is manipulated in two ways: First, he looks at the reports and data Fred provides and because it makes him feel good about his own leadership, accepts it and praises Fred. Second, Fred is quick to take responsibility for bad reports noting that he is "man enough" to admit it was his error and he will be sure and fix it. The boss, projecting his own innate goodness onto Fred, believes him.

 

Fred, on the other hand, can't wait to turn on the workers and hold them responsible for his mistakes. But, he won't do this directly. No, he calls the workers into private meetings, noting the displeasure of THE BOSS over certain aspects of the worker's reports. Fred plays the middleman here, assuring the worker that he has only their best welfare in mind, yet putting them on an emotional roller-coaster that inevitably draws them further and further under his control.

 

The workers, retreat into their private hell feeling incompetent, uncared for, and robbed of any sense of worth. They continue to quietly complain but no one does anything. Then one day, God sends in a person who in effect, notices "the Emperor is naked." This effectively removes the veil of manipulative fear and now everyone gathers to share horror stories. This can be the trap!

 

I call this "Denny's Syndrome." You know what I mean. You go to one of the all-night restuarants around our country and listen to what people talk about. The weather, sports, government, old-people, young-people, hippies, skin-heads, liberals, conservatives, Baptists, Catholics, are all topics of their frustrations and the source of all their problems. And, after hours of lengthy discussions and heated arguments, they all stand to leave, pay their bills, bid each other good night, and leave satisfied that "I sure told them!", and yet having accomplished nothing towards solving the problems they discussed.

 

What are they all expressing? They each believe they lack personal power to change their environment and so they manipulate, medicate, and evacuate.

 

You can be in authority, and have power, but without the third component in the triangle, you are still faced with what would appear to be two parallel lines, rather than three sides of a triangle. The third line, or side, attaching the lines, and forming the base of the triangle, is that of Responsibility/Accountability. I call it, Part III.

 

Dr. Shorrosh is a leadership educator and president of Shepherd's Way Consulting. Dr. Shorrosh works in a variety of capacities to help people understand the roles of leaders in business and not-for-profit organizations. Shepherd's Way Consulting provides a number of services to churches, civic groups, and other organizations in the areas of learning styles, leadership, conflict response training, worker assessment tools, fund raising, and temporary leadership. For more information click on www.shepherdswayonline.org.