One of the most serious mistakes a leader can make is to lead by position only. If the only motivation for people to follow is because you said so, eventually you will have unwilling followers, or worse yet, no followers at all.

I was appointed the leader of an agency several years ago with decades of experience. If that’s not sufficient enough credentials to be the leader, I don’t know what is… or so I thought. I quickly found the awe factor to be a very short window. Decisions were met with resistance and policies were sabotaged before the print was dry. To say the least, my ability to lead was being seriously questioned.

Eventually to be effective, a leader has to achieve acceptance. John C. Maxwell refers to this stage as getting permission to lead. I like to remind myself that leadership is not a thing, it’s an action. To win approval, your actions must be worthy of following.

It took me nearly two years to win the permission to lead. It would have taken longer had I not learned that my position had little to do with being a leader.