Borrowed Authority · also called unearned mandate
how do I earn respect from people who knew me before the promotion
Borrowed Authority is power that comes from a title, an inheritance, or someone else’s introduction rather than from anything you have personally demonstrated to the people in front of you. It functions right up until it is tested, at which point everyone in the room can feel that the source of it was never actually you.
A title can get you the chair. It cannot get you the room.
What to do about it
Find the smallest decision this week where you can be visibly right or visibly wrong in front of the people you lead, and make it in the open.
Books that work on this
Each is a 90-day programme. Start with the first — later books assume the work in the earlier ones.
Earned Not Borrowed$6.99
The Earned Voice$6.99
The Earned Floor$6.99
No Apology Borrow$6.99
The Earned Decade$6.99
The Power Blueprint$6.99
Command The Room Two$6.99
Authority Without Apology$6.99Part of the Power series.
How people say it
Nobody looks this up by its clinical name. These are the ways it actually gets said.
- I got the title but I do not feel like I earned it
- nobody respects me even though I outrank them
- I run the team my predecessor built and it still feels like his
- how do I earn respect from people who knew me before the promotion
- I inherited this position and I am terrified someone will test me on it
- why does my authority feel borrowed instead of real
- people follow my title, not me
- I feel like I am wearing somebody else’s job
Written by Brian Spiker, who has run Spiker Carpet and Tile Care since 2013 — the receipts. More terms in the encyclopedia.