Leader Power is Limited by Follower Response - Lew Steinhoff

I talk with Dr. Lewis Steinhoff, the Director of the Nuclear Weapon Acquisition Professional (NWAP) Certification Program at the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA). We explore how a leader's power and influence are not entirely guaranteed based on title or position, but rather that leaders are to a large extent constrained by what followers are willing to accept. It's an important clarification of what power is, and of what makes us effective when we lead, whether in an office environment or at the level of international government negotiations.

“The power that you exert as a supervisor is only as strong as what the employee is going to accept.”

"It's extremely important that a supervisor develop an understanding  with their employees"

Connect with Dr. Steinhoff on LinkedIn
https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-lewis-steinhoff-a9751147/

References

Ira Chaleff, The Courageous Follower

Gaski, John, "'Volume of Power: A New Conceptualization of the Power Construct", Sociological Spectrum, 15, 1995 

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, In the First Circle (1968) 
“You only have power over people as long as you don't take everything away from them. But when you've robbed a man of everything he's no longer in your power — he's free again.” 

Steinhoff, R.L. (2021), "Assessing leaders’ power limits over followers", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 53 No. 2, pp. 107-116.