True Authority: Influence or Control?

Barney Fife was scared to death! He had just been verbally threatened by a man twice his size and he knew he didn’t stand a chance if the guy made good on his threat. The only thing that saved his hide that day was the fact that he was in his Mayberry deputy’s uniform when the confrontation took place. It was the authority of the badge on his chest that saved him.

However, the big guy warned Barney that if he ever caught him out of uniform, he would beat him to a pulp! So, Barney did the only thing he could think of to save himself. He wore that badge and uniform for the next 2 weeks, day and night! Of course, the episode unfolds with Andy coming up with a solution, as usual, to bail Barney out.

In most real life situations, true authority will trump great power. Barney got his authority from a uniform and a badge and so he was able to hold off the attack of a man more physically powerful than him by hiding behind that authority. However, Sheriff Andy demonstrated a different kind of authority that radiated, not from a badge or uniform, but from who he was as a person.

A 100 pound animal trainer can command a 10,000 pound elephant with absolute authority. Napoleon, who stood just inches above 5 feet tall, ruled nations across most of Europe, demonstrating that individual strength, size, and power have nothing to do with authority.

The question I would like to ask today is this: What is true authority? What is the most powerful form of authority you or I can have?

Authority is expressed through 2 basic forms: Influence or Control. The easiest expression of authority is control, however it is also the least effective and the fastest to disappear.

Three of the world’s most recognized religious figures were Influencers, not Controllers. Jesus, Moses, and Muhammad, were all men who influenced the world far beyond the control of kings, emperors, and dictators.

For example compare Moses with Pharaoh. Pharaoh was the ruler of the largest kingdom of his day, while Moses was a mere slave under his reign. However, as the story goes, Moses inspired a beaten-down, enslaved people to rise up and shrug off the chains of bondage and march to freedom. Today his story is known by almost every person on the planet.

Two historic figures of authority emerged on the scene just a little over 2,000 years ago. Julius Caesar and Jesus Christ, both bearing the initials, J.C. Caesar had built the largest physical empire ever known to man, the Roman Empire. It would last for 1,000 years, longer than any other visible kingdom of its kind. He would build it by force, and rule it with an iron fist of absolute control using fear and intimidation.

Jesus came on the scene, forty years later, with no wealth and no army and influenced a handful of illiterate fishermen and commoners who would create the largest following of people ever known. Christianity is listed in Wikipedia as the largest religious group in the world today. His influence outnumbered and outlasted the control of the Roman Empire.

While this is in no way an attempt to teach any form of theology, it is a great illustration of the difference between influence and control. Do your students, peers, or associates view you as a controller, or as an influencer? Do you come off as Barney Fife or Andy Taylor?

I had a math teacher that tried to force his authority as an educator on us “lowly” students. He spoke with a loud voice and marched around the room with a pompous air of entitlement, enforcing his rules to a reluctant class of students who never respected him. To this day I cannot remember his name or a thing he taught me.

By contrast, Mrs. Cook, my English teacher spoke with a soft voice, and influenced a class of students that would never forget her love and care for them in fifth grade. She inspired me to a deep level of appreciation of history, literature, and poetry that I am grateful for to this day. Although she has been dead for many years, I can still see her beautiful freckled face, red hair, and radiant smile. Though her tongue is silenced, her voice continues to speak through me and the students she influenced.

Here are formulas for 2 kinds of authority:

Enforcement + Laws + Control + Intimidation = Temporary Authority

Influence + Love + Care + Intimacy = Timeless Authority

The award winning educators in America all have one thing in common. They teach with influence, not control. I recently had the opportunity to speak at a middle school in Baltimore, Maryland and observed the principal, Deborah Phelps, display an example of influential authority.

Deborah raised 2 daughters and a son with ADHD. Her influence, care, and love for her children produced 3 great athletes, including the most decorated Olympian of all time, Michael Phelps.

Deborah’s authority was so evident in her school, comprised mostly of African American students, where the love, care, and influence she showed her 3 children is now reflected in the lives of students who follow and adore her as a true authority figure in their lives.

Ghandi was a simple man, with no material possessions, who liberated India from the control of Great Britain through influence. Mother Theresa was a simple woman, with no material possessions, who has influenced many of us to be kind and compassionate.

Hitler was a control freak. Anne Frank was an influencer. Eric Harris was a controller, Rachel Scott was an influencer. Their legacies speak for themselves. May our legacy be one of influence - - not control.