I once watched an excerpt from a movie where an officer walked by a higher ranking officer, and did not salute. They both knew it was intentional and the higher ranked officer stopped the other officer and said we salute the rank, not the man. So the lower ranked officer straightened his posture and saluted in a way that he made it clear that he was only saluting the other officer’s rank.

This got me thinking.  There are times when leaders at the top of the organizational hierarchy wield their power (rank) coercively, demanding or threatening others. Later in their careers, if they move to another company, or once they retire, the power and influence abruptly disappear and they are unprepared for this because they got lulled into thinking the people around them were respecting the man, but all along, they were only obeying, the rank.

Those who retain the respect and influence are the true leaders who did not abuse their power. Instead, they were thoughtful of others, honest, and understood how to balance the needs of the team fairly.

Yvette Bethel is a speaker, author, thought leader and CEO at Organizational Soul.  She views organizations as living ecosystems that have the potential to operate as a healthy organization, according to their unique characteristics. Yvette offers IFB based consulting, training and tools you can use to build trust, culture, and leaders within your organization. She is the developer of the proprietary IFB methodology that brings this all together.