Authority and Influence

There are a handful of people on our staff that work directly for me.  I am technically their authority.  But I have the opportunity to influence everyone on our entire team, even though they may not report to me according to our org chart.  The distinction between authority and influence is important.

• When you try and turn your influence into authority, you’ll just make people mad.
• Many times, we rely on our authority, when we should really utilize our influence.
• Great leaders allow other to influence them, even if they don’t sit in a position of authority.
• Great staff members know how to borrow the authority and the influence of their senior leader.