Become the manager who LEADs people with the API: Authority, Presence, and Impact.

Being a manager is a tough assignment: you are responsible for the team’s results, and everyone expects a great business impact from you.

Being a leader, on the other hand, goes with inspiring others to do the best work in their lives and leading them in the right direction towards team results everyone will be proud of while keeping the team engaged and motivated. 

The ultimate difference between a manager and a leader, I believe, is in the distinction of your API – authority, presence, and impact. This methodology, developed by Professor Peter Hawkins, helps build trust with others and helps translate influence on the team and, therefore, the company results.

• Authority [past] – not in a formal way, as we used to think about authority as the influence you gain with the role you take. Anyone in the room can bring authority through their knowledge, their experience, their achievements, their skills, and the strengths they showcase. Bringing authority means bringing the knowledge and skills from the past to solve today’s problems.
• Presence [present] – is about connecting and relating well with others. Presence is about our ability to respond to the situation at the moment, our ability to scan the energy in the meeting, scan the emotions of your team, connect with it and respond effectively in the same very moment until it is relevant. Even when you experience resistance and negative and toxic energy in the room, as the leader, it is even more critical for you to stay present and respond effectively “in the moment” to help the whole team navigate this difficult situation. Presence is highly important in building strong connections and trust with your team.
• Impact [future] – my ability to change an agenda, influence mindsets, and create shifts in business processes and behaviors of others. Bringing impact means moving things forward from a discussion to action, from brainstorming to an action plan, and then to implementation. The impact is not only about following through, though. It is about being able to shift the mindset when your team is stuck; it is about convincing others to move in a different direction, even when you are the only one confident in it.