Does Leadership Now Come From Power?

I had a wonderful conversation this morning with a Rotary member visiting from Sweden. We spoke of leadership and how in his perspective much of the leaders in our current US culture found themselves in their positions by sheer brute force. After talking further, I surmised and confirmed that by this he meant many leaders of organizations are merely taking over the leadership positions, in contrast with what he believed once happened, which was more the climb to the top approach. He felt leaders at one point began in the mailroom and worked their way up the ladder to that top position, which is the case in many of the still family controlled corporations recently cited in the Wall Street Journal.

My question is can one be a contagious leader with power while still earning and developing the respect of those who work with you and who report to you? The resounding answer was absolutely!! Though, I believe it depends on three factors:

• Do you have the right attitude toward what you are doing?
• Do you have the right attitude toward who you are doing it with?
• Do you have competence and enough authority, real or percieved, to weild decision-making power once enough evidence upon which to base a decision has been received?