Title-based Authority Fails Under Load

Spicy title.
Does it hold?
(Lets find out.)

Authority: Are You Listening?

Hi.

What is "Authority"?
According to Miriam-Webster:

power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior.

Does that definition resonate?

Let's try this one:

power to influence a system's direction.

Who do you listen to at work?
What title do they have?
When are they worth following?
Which presence do they embody?
..

Authority.
Leadership.
What's the difference?

TL;DR: Title != Leadership.

Screaming Is An Amplified Signal

There was an accident.
You're panicking.
Your boss is yelling.
..

A fragmenting system
will shed load.
(Fight, flight, freeze, fawn.)

A fragmenting system
by definition
cannot actively integrate.

A fragmenting system
by definition
doesn't listen.

Liar Liar Pants On Fire

🔥🤵🔥🧑‍🚒🔥

Who do you orient towards?

When things are burning:
You're orienting towards the fire fighter.

When things are burning:
You're orienting towards the most regulated nervous system.

Physics.
..

A human system under load.
Orients toward and organizes around
the most regulated actor.
Irrespective of the title.

Leadership under load
is a regulatory function.
A nervous system function.

Ethical leadership under load
is maintaining regulation
until the last responsible moment.
(Being the last to freak out.)

TL;DR: Regulation > Authority.

Only Regulation Listens Under Load

Active Integration:
the capacity to metabolize
fragmented realities under load
without shedding responsibility.

Dysregulated systems fragment.
The prefrontal cortex goes offline.
The limbic system takes over.
Coherence leaves the room.
(Neurobiology.)

Under active load
(e.g. incidents, emergencies)
dysregulated actors require
cognitive support.

Under active load
leaders need to
(excuse the language)
hold their shit together.

Ethical leadership under load demands

• embodied self-regulation,
• active integration of reality as it unfolds,
• load-bearing language as cognitive support.

TL;DR: Authority talks. Leadership listens.

The Final Frontier: Embodiment

The bad news:
Title-based authority fails under load.

The good news:
(Self-)Regulation is a skill.

The annoying news:
Embodiment beats insight, especially under load.

Workshops are cheap.
Workshops are insightful.
Workshops are insufficient.

Self-regulation is an embodied practice.
And only repetition builds embodiment.
(Can't cheat neurobiology.)

TL;DR:

The best time to plant a tree was 30 years ago.
The second best time is now.

Intrigued?
This work can be done deliberately.

Systemic Engineering is how I help teams and leaders
restore coherence in complex systems.

How you can reach me:
📧 alex@systemic.engineer
💼 on LinkedIn

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