The Leader's Leader - Why is Authority Important

The leader empowers everyone in the organization to live in harmony with the beliefs, values, and purpose of the organization, thereby releasing the previously untapped potential in those individuals.

Throughout these articles, I have stressed the foundational importance of a personal and organizational philosophy—a logos.

If there is no guiding philosophy, performance will inevitably lack passion and direction.

However, the impact of even the truest and most comprehensive philosophy will be effectively neutralized if the leader’s personal example contradicts that philosophy. If the leader does not consistently live the logos, a watching world will quickly conclude that the philosophy is inconsequential.

Most young people today take satellites and the space shuttle for granted; however, millions of Americans watched in fascination during the 1960s as NASA waged its spirited race with the Soviet Union to see who would be the first to land an astronaut on the moon. Personally, I never tired of watching the giant rockets lifting off from Cape Canaveral, and those rockets provide a marvelous analogy for the interconnection of the core competencies of the Leader’s Leader.

The first essential element to a successful rocket launch is the launching pad. The pad must provide an unshakeable, indestructible platform that will withstand the tremendous heat generated by the huge thrusters that take the rocket up into space. These rockets had various stages of thrusters. Stage One of the rocket would lift the spacecraft off the ground and take it well up into the upper atmosphere; then the first stage would disengage and fall away, allowing the craft to continue up into space, powered by the Stage Two thrusters.

Logos Leadership operates in much the same way.

The logos is the launching pad for the entire operation.

Without a solid philosophical foundation that enables both individuals and organizations to withstand the great heat and pressure generated by rapid change and turbulent economic times, the entire mission will fail.

Stage One of Logos Leadership is the example of the Leader’s Leader. The leader’s example generates the initial momentum to lift the organization up and away from its starting point. However, Stage One must eventually disengage if the company is to continue on to the highest levels of excellence.

This transition from Stage One to Stage Two is the empowerment stage, where authority passes from the Leader’s Leader to those who demonstrate the initiative and the ability to take up the baton and continue to move the organization onward toward its destination.

Jack Lannom is an internationally known speaker, author, and consultant. He has served as a corporate coach for several Fortune 500 companies, including Citibank, R&R Donnelly and Sons, Jefferson Pilot Communications, Caterpillar, and also Knight-Ridder Newspapers and is featured on the PBS television program, "Lannom Memory Methods".

Jack is the author of Untapped Potential, Transformational Coaching, Quantum Mind, Memory Genius, The Self-Concept Game, The Leaders Leader, You Are A Genius Children's Interactive Software, Lannom's Memory Methods, People First, and The Dynamics of Remembering Names and Faces.

He's also a talented athlete who holds black belts in six different styles of Kung Fu, including a tenth degree black sash in Wa Lu. And Jack holds the world record for breaking a 3,150-pound block of ice with a single blow from his hand!

To learn more about Jack Lannom, visit his website here: JackLannom.com where you can sign up for his free newsletter, learn more about his products and read the next 25 pages of People First.