The dynamic between being a leader and leadership is a fascinating phenomenon that is complex and abstruse. Being a leader and having leadership are dynamically different. A leader is a person who holds a position that bears responsibility for being accountable for achieving results, but in that position, they often confuse authority with influence. French and Raven (1959, 1965) theorized the basis of power for social influence. Leaders always strive for social power to wield influence, and they often mistake authority as the key tactic and practice to persuade people to do what they want.
Leaders leveraging authority fail, and they are confused. The confusion occurs because they lack intrafunctioning development (i.e., internal development). The leader fails to influence people effectively and, in desperation, grasps their authority because of the failure of their interfunctioning (i.e., external behaviors). Authority is a weak premise with extreme limits in its influence and what it can accomplish because it ignores the internal growth of the individual. Authoritarian leaders confuse their authority with their ability to influence. They mistakenly believe that their position gives them influence, but it doesn’t, and failure is inevitable.
French, J. R. P., Jr., & Raven, B. (1959). The bases of social power. In D. Cartwright (Ed.), Studies in social power (pp. 150–167). University of Michigan.
French, J. R. P., Jr., & Raven, B. H. (1965). The bases of social power. In I. D. Steiner & M. Fishbein (Eds.), Current studies in social psychology (pp. 371–382). New York: Holt, Rinehart, Winston.