I’ve selected Quotation 75, with its two quotations, as my Top Ten entry because combined they offer a warning to managers about how easy it is to lose power.
Power is the ability to get things done.
Rosabeth Moss Kanter
However, any reticence or failure on a manager’s part to use their power will lead to it withering away to such an extent that when they try exercise it people will just ignore them.
Sophocles reminds managers that they should:
Never command what you cannot enforce.
Sophocles
An inability to implement your instructions or commands kills a manager’s credibility stone-dead with both staff and colleagues. So, never issue any order or instruction if there is any doubt at all about your ability to enforce it.
Margaret Thatcher, perhaps the most obviously powerful prime minister of the last 70 years, forgot this principle and never recovered from her inability to implement the poll tax.
ONE LESSON TO TAKE AWAY
As a manager you must identify your sources of authority, power and influence and the level at which you can exercise them. Once this is done you need to protect, preserve and extend you power bases. Failing to use your power when required will lead to loss of power.