by Chris Banescu –
Bob Davids, successful leader of six different businesses and co-author of Leadership without Ego: How to stop managing and start leading, reminds us of the right way that authentic leaders use the power they are given by the people. Rather than hoard that power, great leaders give all power back to the individuals who entrusted them with it.
In return, the people give these leaders even more power, thus creating a virtuous cycle that builds trust, empowers individuals at all levels of the organization to do great work, and inevitably leads to the long-term success of the enterprise and the people working there.
In his TEDx Talk, Davids explains that power is given to leaders by the people who support them. When individuals give power to their superiors, they observe how those leaders respond. If leaders take that power and give it all back to the people, the people then give those leaders even more power (support). When leaders deflect all of that additional power back to the individuals, the people will again give more power to the superiors. A virtuous cycle of power and trust has been created. If the cycle continues, everyone benefits and the organization will flourish.
“Power comes when the people that you are leading give you their support. When that support comes to you, I call that like power. They offer you the power, and then they watch you.
If you take that power and you deflect all of it back to them, then they give you more. And then if you give more back to them, the second wave, they give you even more.” – Bob Davids
However, if leaders take the power they’re entrusted with and don’t give it back to the people, the opposite will happen. Individuals will give their superiors less power. The leaders’ actual (and legitimate) power gradually diminishes. When no power flows back to the people, employees will be less energized and less empowered; thus less productive, motivated, and innovative. Individuals will have less and less power themselves to give back to their leaders. As leaders continue to hoard power, a destructive cycle forms that eventually disempowers not only the people but also those very same leaders. Such dysfunctional relationship with power undermines, and ultimately destroys, any organization, company, or institution.
“But if you start to take some of that power, they start giving you less. And those leaders that accept the power make a critical mistake. Because now the power that’s going to come and give them more and more and more power falters and goes away.” – Bob Davids
