Mary Wright

UNIV 392

Professor Harris

05.14.2017

Paper 1: Power and Leadership

Often, I associate power with negative connotations of excessive control and force.
However, power plays a necessary role of carrying out a leadership role. It is the stepping stone
in the process of exercising influence.

Power is an innate tool. It allows us to help and better ourselves, those around us and,
above all, the communities and world we are a part of. I believe power is what you make of it
based on the intentions you have as a leader.

I have not always identified myself with being a leader or having a capacity of influence.
I would rather be behind the scenes than center stage. It was not until recently that I realized
the disservice I was doing by not exercising my tool of influence. This tool can allow me to help
others. I can use my personal experiences and the knowledge to help guide and lead others.

When looking at the relationship between power and leadership, there are five bases in
which power can be broken down into. These five differ in the way leaders and followers
interact based on their values and attitudes. The five bases are: referent, expert, legitimate,
reward and coercive.

The two bases which I most identify with are referent and expert. Referent and expert
power are personal powers, or ...the influence capacity a leader derives from being seen by
followers as likable and knowledgeable (Northouse 8). I view personal power as hard earned
and just power. Influence from personal power comes from connecting and relating with
followers rather than dominating them.

I see myself exercising referent power as the Vice President of the womens ultimate
frisbee team. My fellow teammates elected me to the position because they saw me as
someone who can create and maintain a positive and encouraging community and
environment for the team. I identify most with this power because I earned it by being myself
and carrying out values I hold close to me, such as inclusion and community.

For expert power, I carry this type of influence through my competence in the area of
environmental science and sustainability. Due to my knowledge, I am able to promote
sustainable initiatives on campus, such as composting or participating in Bike to Campus week.
My expert power in this field allowed me to gain a leadership position in IES as a sustainability
intern.

However, I have also exercised positional power, such as legitimate. One position I have
held where I have exercised legitimate power is my job in the admissions office. For my job, I
hold the supervisor position. As a supervisor, I monitor my co-workers phone calls. I earned
this position through my experience working with the admissions office. Often, I find this
power hard to exercise because my coworkers and I are also peers. However, it is my duty as a
leader to to maintain authority.

Thus, I value personal bases of power most because I believe they are more personal
with either people or with the passions I am connected to or motivated by. However, I believe
positional power is necessary to maintain structure and authority that is just and fair.
 Works Cited

Northouse, Peter Guy. Leadership: Theory and Practice. 7th ed. Los Angeles: Sage, 2015. Print.