Develop your leadership skills- John Adair. -- 2nd ... - About University

12 ■ Develop your leadership skillslife; and knowledge is linked to authority. There are four formsof authority among people:■■■■The authority of position and rank – ‘Do this because I amthe boss!’The authority of knowledge – ‘Authority flows to the onewho knows.’The authority of personality – in its extreme form,charisma.Moral authority – personal authority to ask others to makesacrifices.Nelson Mandela, for example, has dignity, integrity and charm.Because he endured years of imprisonment he has acquired themoral authority to ask his fellow countrymen and -women toaccept difficulties and hardships on the long road to nationalunity and prosperity.Why do sailors do what the captain orders when the ship istossed to and fro in a storm? Because they sense that thecaptain has the knowledge of the sea and navigation, deepenedby experience of many other storms, to know what to do.Knowledge creates confidence in others.For this reason your acquisition of technical and professionalknowledge is actually part of your development as a leader.You are equipping yourself with one essential ingredient. To goback to Churchill for a moment, in 1940 he was the onlycabinet minister with experience as a war minister in the FirstWorld War, quite apart from his own background as a professionallytrained officer who, as a regimental commander,