The cliche is well established yet makes immense sense- ‘ with freedom comes responsibility ‘ – the same can transcend to authority. If you want or have the authority, expecting that to come without its downside( or the expected norm whichever way you want to look at it) is not exactly prudent thinking.
If you have the authority to lead a team of people, you better be prepared to deal with diverse mindsets, temperaments, expectations and trigger points. The choice we make belongs to us. If you have the freedom of choice, you can be either leading or following. There are both upsides and downsides irrespective on which side of the fence you are on. If you are leading, you would be, in many situations be not in a position to control the people whom you are leading. It is not automated. You have to reconcile with that reality.
Once you make your distilled and educated choice, expecting, taking and addressing the resultant consequences of the position you have taken head on is a given. And that will include situations wherein you are in not in total control. So, as parents, teachers, law enforcers, tax authorities, political leaders etc, who are perceived as authority figures, they will be in multiple scenarios be in situations wherein they are not in control of their respective domains. There will be rebels, revolutionaries, contrarians in the mix that may or may not align with authority.
So, the downside of authority would be-If we make the choice to lead, we need to be prepared to own the consequences of our leadership, even (or especially) if we can’t actually control what others do.
You might see some relevance in an earlier blog post that I had written on authority & power– https://www.sureshdinakaran.com/blog/2023/03/12/power-fool/
