Video Text: Power vs Authority

Can you be in a leadership position and have no power? You think so right. You’ve been there, you’ve seen it. We’ve all worked for bad leaders. Now let’s do the flip of that. Can you be in a informal position, not a formal leadership position, and wield a lot of power?

I want you to think of power as the ability to influence. You don’t have to be in a position of authority to influence. But because of the way the Army’s structured, I go into this assignment and here I am, 23 years old and I’m the one with the authority, but I don’t have the power, and I know that.

Remember power / influence, the non-commissioned officer who was in his thirties was teaching me the ropes. I had the authority and guess what, he had the power because I was a newbie cutting my teeth.

Yes sir. “You can delegate power but you can’t normally delegate authority.” Aha, I’m gonna ask you this question. You brought it up and I’ll use two different words or one different word. Can I delegate authority? Can I delegate responsibility?