Leadership

"As a leader, You are powerful!'

This is the first line of a reading I am doing in preparation for H3W, which as far as I can tell, is a Hartford Hospital version of HRO or high reliability organizations. Let me say from the start that I agree with the principle so HRO, it is in the implementation that I think it often fails.  We went through HRO at Backus but it is applied in piecemeal, applied where it is convenient for management and ignored where it is not.

I also believe that leaders can be powerful.

It is in the message of the first statement that I have an issue. To me it implies a sense of being in control, of being superior, of being the "boss".  In fact, "the boss" is powerful. The boss hold your economic security in his hands. But the boss is often not a leader.

Jesus, Gandhi, Chavez: they were leaders.
Hitler was powerful, but not a leader.

A leader's strength comes from the collective strength of those who willingly follow him/her.
A leaders strength comes from their willingness to lead by example, to serve rather than be served, to listen, to show respect.

Jesus, Gandhi, Chavez; did this.  They lived with those they led, they walked the walk.

I have heard this referred to as "the upside down pyramid".
In most organizations, the president or CEO is at the top, with vice presidents below them, and so on and so on.
In an organization with leader instead of a boss, the people are at the top, with vice presidents below them, and the leader at the bottom.
A part of that implies that the leader serves the masses, and that is true, but it is more than that.
In a traditional hierarchy, the power is held at the top.
In an upside down hierarchy, the power still resides at the top, it's just that the people are now at the top.
The leader's strength comes from the collective strength of those who willingly follow him/her.
Not from fear, or bullying, or power.