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Exercising Authority requires listening, and being heard. Not as easy as it sounds

Photo by Daniel Lonn on Unsplash

Authority is one of those areas that has slipped into a label. Authorise, Authorised, Authority. We use it in everyday language; for the most part, it just passes through, covered in Teflon, with no emotional friction.

If this feels right, it should set alarm bells ringing somewhere inside us. On Sunday, I referred to authority as:

Authority. from Latin auctor "promoter, producer, father, progenitor; builder, founder; trustworthy writer, authority; historian; performer, doer; responsible person, teacher," literally "one who causes to grow.”

These qualities should stop us, or those we’re delegating authority to, in our tracks. It is the stuff of the soul. It is what is implied in the African greeting “Sawubona” - “I see you”; the whole of you, your passions, your pain, your purpose.”. The traditional response is “Shiboka” - “I exist for you”. Rather more content than “hi”, and resonant with the principles of quantum physics, in that we create each other thr…