"You have within you more resources of energy than have ever been tapped, more talent than has ever been exploited, more strength than has ever been tested, more to give than you have ever given." 

--John Gardner, former Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare

 For over two decades, The Quality Coach!® has been engaged in helping to develop leaders.  Mostly leaders inside our clients' organizations.  From CEO to front line supervisor, there are times when these leaders feel that they do not have enough power to fulfill their responsibilities.  I have certainly been there in my corporate days. 

 I remember a particularly rough time when

Instructor Hank

I did not seem to have the power or authority I needed to make the organizational changes I was tasked with making.  Demoralized but determined, I kept trying.    

 It so happened that I was finishing up my bachelor's degree in management at that time, and I was enrolled in a leadership class.  The instructor offered an interesting leadership theory.  He distinguished "position power" from "personal power".

 "Position power" is defined by an individual's job description or title, and is capped, or limited.  It is an outside-in kind of power, granted to you by others.

 "Personal power" is an inside-out kind of power and is darned near infinite.   So, I latched onto this theory and began to experiment with it.  I came to realize that I did not necessarily need "the title" to lead, and make things happen.  It was as simple as "choosing" to lead, from any job title I held and any place I happened to be in the organization. 

For example, you don't need a special job title to:

• Take control of your life
•  Make your organization or community better
•  Seize new opportunities
•  Improve the service your customers receive
•  Bring out the best in others
•  Prevent and solve problems
•  Contribute to others
•  Focus on what's working and what's right
•  Focus on what you CAN do, rather than what you CANNOT do
•  Lead by example
•  Make the world a little better than you found it

There are many leaders among us, without titles.  They may be our neighbors, fellow church members, colleagues, parents, kids, brothers or sisters.  They are rarely recognized, and that is usually okay by them. 

To achieve the best results possible, we need to tap into and turn on our personal power, and step up and step into leadership with or without the official title.