People are always ambivalent about those in power. When you are the leader of a group, people are continually prepared to turn on you the moment you seem weak or experience a setback. When you are weak people will doubt your strength, become suspicious of your motives, and respond with hidden contempt.
Authority is the delicate art of creating the appearance of power, legitimacy, and fairness while getting people to identify with you as a leader who is in their service.
It is a fundamental fact of human nature that our emotions are almost always ambivalent, rarely pure and simple. We can feel love and hostility at the same time, or admiration and envy. Part of the reason for this essential ambivalence is that strong, pure emotions are frightening. They represent a momentary loss of control. They seem to negate our willpower.
This ambivalence can be seen in our attitudes towards leaders - while we recognise the need for leader, we also tend to fear and even despise those who are above us. We crave leadership so that hard decisions can be made and necessary guidance is provided. We feel disoriented (sometimes even hysterical) without someone fulfilling this role. We are also wilful creatures. We do not feel comfortable with the inferiority and dependence that comes with serving under a leader. We want to exercise our own will and feel our autonomy. We secretly envy the recognition and privileges that leaders possess. Hence, loyalties of followers are notoriously fickle and volatile.
The fundamental task of any leader is to provide a far-reaching vision, to see the global picture, to work for the greater good of the group and maintain its unity. (Leaders have to avoid ever seeming petty, self-serving, or indecisive). When leaders fail to establish the twin pillars of authority - vision and empathy, the group feel the disconnect and distance between them and leadership.
Strategies for Establishing Authority
The essence of authority is that people willingly follow your lead. The following strategies to engage followers' willpower and overcome their natural resistances and ambivalence:
Find your authority style (authenticity): The authority you establish must emerge naturally from your character, from the particular strengths you possess. By bringing out a style that is natural to you, you give the impression that your sense of justice came from your DNA or were a gift from the Gods. The typical archetypes of authority:
Deliverer: An individual determined to deliver people from evil, particularly those that affect the group they identify with
Founder: Establish a new order in business or politics. They generally have a keen sense of trends and a great aversion to status quo
Visionary Artist: These artists learn the conventions in their field and then turn them upside down. They crave some new style and they create it
Truth Seeker: People who have no tolerance for lies and politicking
Quiet Pragmatist: They want to fix things that are broken and have infinite patience
Healer: They have a knack for finding what will fulfil and unify people
Teacher: They have a way of getting people to initiate and learn from their mistakes
Focus outwardly (attitude): We humans are self-absorbed by nature and spend most of our time focusing inwardly. Leaders must reverse this habit as much as possible by - honing their listening skills (and paying attention to the words and nonverbal cues of followers), dedicating themselves to earning respect of their followers, and viewing their role as a leader with tremendous responsibility
Cultivate the third eye (vision): Leaders who maintain their presence of mind and elevate their perspective above the current moment - tap into the visionary powers of the human mind and cultivate that third eye for unseen forces and trends. They create the aura of authority by seeming to possess the godlike ability to read the future
Lead from the front (tone): As the leader, you must be seen working as hard as or even harder than everyone else. You set the highest standards for yourself. You are consistent and accountable. If there are sacrifices that need to be made, you are the first to make them for the good of the group
Stir conflicting emotions (aura): As the leader, you want to be more mysterious, to establish a presence that fascinates people. By sending mixed signals, by showing qualities that are ever so slightly contrary, you cause people to pause in their instant categorisations and to think about who you really are. The more they think about you, the larger and more authoritative your presence
Never appear to take, always to give (taboo): Taking something from people they have assumed they possessed (money, rights or privileges, time that is their own) creates a basic insecurity and will call into question your authority and all the credit you have amassed
Rejuvenate your authority (adaptability): Your authority will grow with each action that inspires trust and respect
This post is a summary of information provided in the book - The Laws of Human Nature, Robert Greene