How to Lead When You're Not in Charge: Leveraging Influence When You Lack Authority

by Clay Scroggins

people don’t follow titles. They follow courage and integrity.

When you find people who can get things done in an organization conspiring against them, you’ve found leaders.

Great leaders leverage influence and relationships over title and position.

It is foundational, determining the level of confidence you have when you challenge your boss in a disagreement. It establishes your sense of security when you face doubts. It’s what enables you to process your emotions during tense conversations.

In his case, he was trying to make his father proud. Seems innocent enough, right? Unfortunately, trying to make their fathers proud is just one of the traps young leaders fall into when they don’t have a firmly established identity.

Believing that you need a position of authority to exercise your ambition is a lie, and as soon as that lie takes root in you, you will find yourself losing the influence you desire to cultivate and develop.

The idea of a role where you can have all the authority and be fully in charge is found only in a monarchy or a dictatorship.