You Don’t Need Authority to be a Leader

Authority can be given to a person. Leadership cannot.

People with authority often have no followers.

People with followers often have no authority.

Leaders require no authority. They say, ‘This is what I’ve decided to do.’ And then they do it. Others see them doing it and decide to follow.

On Tuesday I was on the phone to my friend Manley Miller in New Orleans when he said,

“No one wants to be a leader anymore. Everyone wants to be a commentator. You want to know how to identify a leader? Just took for the person who’s making the decisions.”

The notorious billionaire oil man and corporate raider, T. Boone Pickens passed along this advice at the end of his life,

“Be willing to make decisions. That’s the most important quality in a good leader: Avoid the ‘Ready-aim-aim-aim-aim’ syndrome. You have to be willing to fire. Learn from mistakes. That’s not just a cliché. I sure made my share. Remember the doors that smashed your fingers the first time and be more careful the next trip through. Be humble. I always believed the higher a monkey climbs in the tree, the more people below can see his ass. You don’t have to be that monkey.”

In his book, “Where Have all the Leaders Gone?” Lee Iacocca, that innovative leader who breathed new life into one of America’s most important corporations said,

“The most innovative research is often killed during the peer review process. Why? Well, let me put it to you simply: Imagine if every time Chrysler wanted to bring a new car to market, it had to depend on positive reviews from GM and Ford. Are you starting to get the picture?”

During his rant at a Wizard of Ads partner meeting a few years ago, the dazzling Mick Torbay said,

“You need to understand something: the committee is not evil. The committee doesn’t want you to fail. The committee has nothing but good intentions. But the committee can’t innovate. More than anything, the committee wants to look good to the rest of the committee… So don’t be surprised that when you present a really, really great idea to a committee, the only thing you’re gonna get is a reason why that idea won’t work; one reason for every member of the committee. The committee will always pull you to the center. The committee will help you avoid risk, but risk and reward are two sides of the same coin. If you avoid risk, then huge success is out of the question. Are you okay with that?”

As we approach the beginning of a brand-new year, let’s go back to what I said in the beginning:

Authority can be given to a person. Leadership cannot.

People with authority often have no followers.

People with followers often have no authority.

Leaders require no authority. They say, ‘This is what I’ve decided to do.’

And then they do it. Others see them doing it and decide to follow.

What have you decided to do?

You doing that, in 2023, is what I want to see.

You’ve talked about it long enough.

You’ve thought about it long enough.

It’s time to get started.

Roy H. Williams

ONE LAST THOUGHT FROM MICK TORBAY: “Your comfort zone is actually a prison cell. It’s the reason you’re not growing the way you should. The good news? Every business owner, including your competitor, has a comfort zone and most never dare to leave it. But you will. You dare. And that’s how we’ll win.”

Ted Clark started out as a shipping clerk, then climbed the heights of the wealth ladder. He now advises people on how to leverage their way into society’s upper crust. The secret? OPM. (Other People’s Money) How to get it. How to use it. MondayMorningRadio.com