The night I learned the difference between perceived power and real power.
I was president of a professional organization with eighty member companies and a board that showed up to put it on their resume.
Volunteer organization. No salary. No authority. Nobody had to do anything I asked and most of them knew it.
I was getting frustrated. People said things in meetings and then didn't do them. And there was nothing I could do about it.
One night I hadn't eaten. I was hungry. I brought buffalo wings and beer to the board meeting.
Best meeting we ever had.
Something shifted in that room. The formality dropped. People stopped performing and started talking. And when people actually talked they said things worth responding to. And when things were worth responding to people started doing them.
The board started showing up. And once they started showing up they had to actually do what they said they were going to do.
I learned something that night that no management course ever taught me.
Perceived power and real power are not the same thing.
Authority gets people in the room. Chicken wings keep them there.
Everything that matters happens when people choose to stay.
Dominic Luzi · Chief Answer Grape, Management Alchemy