I’m working on my weekly piece for ProBlogger. It is about AUTHORITY.
(“Authority” was in capital letters for a reason and that reason is that I’m tempted to insert bad words before and after.)
The title, so far: I fight Authority but Authority Always Wins. (Yep, totally ripping John Mellancamp off.)
But: my basic quandry. What the hell is authority?
We use the word in so many ways…what do we mean when we bloggers tell bloggers to blog with authority? That authority is one of the keys to success?
So, my questions to bloggers:
What is authority? (or: What do you mean when you talk about authority?)
Why do we need it?
please talk back…either in the comments or on Twitter by e-mail kelly at kellydiels dot com.
I’d love to tell you, but I’m not sure if I have the authority to do so
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Seriously though, authority to me, and based on my experience, is that you believe what someone says without having to verify it from a 2nd source. It’s half trust, and half faith that someone knows what they’re talking about.
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Authority is a funny thing. I was a teacher for years, and obviously that gave me authority by default. But that is not the kind of authority you want to have.
The better type of authority always came later in the year when the kids had learned to trust me and gave me authority willingly.
In my mind, you can’t claim authority. It has to be perceived by other people.
And you should never, ever abuse it.
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Kelly L.
replied:
on January 24th, 2010 at 11:36 am
@Debbie Ferm,
Debbie, I haven’t read all of the comments but yours is the winner in my mind. Authority is earned on some level. Chris Brogan became a social media authority when everyone believed he was. My question is…when did HE believe it? That’s harder…
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When people tell me to blog with authority, I take it to mean that I need to know what I am writing about. If that means references and siting others’ works, fine. If it means being authentic to me, fine.
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For me in the realm of self-control, authority is usually my own internalized resistance to the status quo. Whatever the routine is, “let’s just keep it that way” sort of attitude. This problem is embodied in bureaucracy – which has it’s own sense of self-preservation. So, authority, for me, is synonymous with habit that freaks out, OCD style, if anything is about to change. Authority is dominion – over oneself. The ability to say – Stop! Pattern Interrupt! Let’s Do Something Different Now!
Authority is also tied to “permission.” Have learned it is easier to beg for forgiveness than it is to ask for permission.
Authority is also involved in the essence of relationship. Meaning, who determines who gets who’s way when and how long do the other(s) have to wait to get what they want/need – or if that ever happens. The “no good deed goes unpunished” sort of thing.
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Authority is also respect. Have learned that, (in my culture anyway.) a person must choose between authority & respect…or will we choose rapport and communication and transparency? Rapport encourages connection, a lack of fear and a sense of security. But there is a cost – often a loss of respect comes with rapport if it’s chosen over authority, especially if that person is a woman.
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Hi Kelly,
Like Debbie said, authority should be a perceived thing, when people listen to you, they must feel that you know what the hell are you talking about, and you better do or else, it´s tied with reputation.
In other words, if you do know the stuff that you talk about, in time you´ll get reputation and authority, like everything else in life, it takes time, lots of time.
See you.
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Is authority had by leaving out ego? Or is it more truthful to be a lone voice in the wilderness that does not presume to add to the trance of defining the nature of reality? In English it’s tricky to write anything without presuming authority, because the act of writing is authorship. Questions about authority encourages people to wonder, who is that person to dare to be saying that? It’s no longer a question of whether someone is lying or not, but how much are they lying. How much of what they say should I believe?
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Is authority about author-ship? (I haven’t looked it up yet.)
If you’re authorized, you have the right to …
Usurpers assume authority (so it’s not necessarily earned). Yet I still think authority is in the eye of the beholder.
It’s an excellent question. Looking forward to your post.
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Interesting! I think authority is a term we use when describing power dynamics of all sorts – whose power we acknowledge, give permission to (including our own), how we interact with others’ power (institutional, forceful, etc) even if we don’t acknowledge its validity, etc. Don’t know if we need authority (in general) so much as we need clarity around how we interact with it.
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Authority is landing on 1st page of Google for search term. Preferably in the top 3.
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Authority is simply having more means/reasources/knowledge than your counterpart. Whether you’re talking about the government or your parents, you consider these “institutions” authoritative because they, in some way or another, have something you don’t… or perhaps more of something you do. And yes, this could simply be that they have more ability to inflict force.
Do we need authority? Certainly…not only that, but we want it. It’s terrifying to feel like you are where the buck stops, that it all comes down to you, that what you say goes and is considered truth. We don’t trust ourselves enough to consider ourselves authority figures (hence why you fear’d guest posting)
…. so what do we do instead… we reach our for authority in those around us, then point fingers when they fail, all to keep the finger pointing away from ourselves. That’s my take at least…. hope this helps.
Peace,
Chase Brumfield
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Authority is
Good: confidence, faith, knowledge, strength, power
and
Bad: Might, bullying, force, advantage
but
Is it always relevant? Was Buddha an authority? Was Jesus? Or Gandhi? I think there is a place for Blogging With Authority – but Authority feels like the push, and sometimes we need to be pulled.
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Hi – well, you know me – dying to be born and all that. I think we are moving to a new place about what constitutes authority, so I am glad you are writing about it. The etymology of authority goes back to the word “autor” -from the Old French for “father”. So there are the patriarchial roots.
I think what you are referring to, though, is what I call fauxthority. It ain’t real, baby. It’s a puffed up “I am have the answers, listen to me.” This type of authority is dying out.
My new definition of authority is authenticity + clarity (haven’t figured out what to do with the o yet). When I show up as fully myself – with my beautiful flaws and mistakes and fears, and say “this is my truth” from a place of clarity – that is worth listening to. This type of authority is on the rise.
Everything is circular. We are returning to the proto-Indo-European root which still had the influences of goddess cultures (so before the word was co-opted by patriarchal cultures) and that PIE root was “aug” meaning “to increase”. My interpretation: the more authentic I am, the more clarity increases. And this takes us back to a quote I left here in the past: “When a woman tells the truth, she is creating the possibility for more truth around her.” ~Adrienne Rich
If your authority means getting people to listen to you, to follow you, that’s fauxthority. You’re just looking for clones.
If it means showing people the possibility of authenticity + clarity to find their truth, now we’re talking.
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Authority fuels the ego. When it is used to motivate and enhance the performance of others, it is the ego used well. When it is used to give more credit than is rightfully due to an opinion or a person, it debilitates and disables. It also has a tendency to make surroundings blur and context disappear.
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Authority on the internet for me is really non existant.
Authority isn’t achieved it’s perceived (use that tag line if you want)Others decide if you are the one to listen to on certain subjects, but others will disagree, that’s why it really (for me) doesn’t exist.
awesom content on this site, loving it, just wanted to put a different spin on it and maybe give you an awesome tag line.
RTing now
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First; I think your writing is lovely. Helpful. Readable. Funny. I blog, off and on, because I enjoy the process of putting thoughts on the page. I am off-put, sometimes, by my own silly expectations about recognition or responses to my writings. But that’s getting better all the time. I have a few folks who enjoy my writing, and by golly that’s alright! All the best Ms. Cleavage.
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Normally “Authority” online is a reference to how Google values your website / pages. Google considers a Site more authoritative if it has the keyword in question in the site’s URL, if it is an older site, if it has plentiful backlinks from other sites considered to be high value sites, and if the content relates well to the search (among other things).
Not too differently from how one might look for an Authority on a topic — who does everyone else look to / listen to (link to) for information on a specific topic?
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Authority is definitely perceived, and to your question about when does someone others consider an ‘authority’ perceive that s/he is/has authority – for me, it was a feeling more than anything. When teaching, a calm realization that the things I was teaching would work, and that I could handle any situation. When working as a medic, the same sense – which gave all five-foot-nothing of me the self-possession to tell bigger, aggressive fire-rescue personnel to step back and compelled them to listen up without even raising my voice. In writing, it’s a feeling, too – I know when I’ve hit the mark. In support situations, while it’s a feeling I have I question myself constantly, every single day. I may know I’m right or correct but I don’t always know if I’m *helping*, which is a very different thing.
And yeah, it’s circular.
Did those firemen (most who didn’t know, recognize or report to me) have to follow my orders? Yeah…but they could have challenged them, and seldom did (and did less and less the longer I practiced.) So did my knowledge give me the self-possession, the authority? Or did my title as a medic give me the confidence to go forward, secure in my knowledge? Who has time for those questions in the middle of an accident or a trauma call? Nobody. I just was who I am, and big guys stopped and did what I told them to do and thanked me later. Until one day they started clearing a path when I got to a call, and started listening on their own. Not sure why. Now you’re making me think again, Kelly.
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Debbie hit the nail on the head.
But I wanted to add a bit more. I think that when you blog with authority, you have to not only know what you are talking about, but you have to also be confident in what you are saying. Confidence is a key component in authority.
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I think the following three metrics create a blogger’s authority:
1. How “social” the blog is in terms of number of comments, ReTweets, shares, etc…
2. The number of other blogs linking into the blog.
3. Google Page Rank and organic search visitors (lots = more authority)
Now with all that said, true authority is best measured by one, simple measurement: Do people care about the blog?
Good luck with the piece Kelly!
Alex
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something to be challenged, fought and rallied against; to question it is to survive (in my world). it is the stopper of dreams and the creator of beuracracy. it requires the constant proving of who we are and what right we have to speak. it is dressed up as wisdom and rules for your own good and this is patently bullshit.
we need it but not in its current form. we need the framework, the platform, the basis: at its core should be compassion and love.
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Perception seems to be the key, yet that does not mean you are an authority on whatever you say. If you think you are chances are you are not; if enough believe it, then you are – authority. But are you really?
Authority is trust. Authority is knowing and giving and sharing information and then backing up that information with more information showing you do know what you speak of.
Authority is trust. Authority takes time. Authority takes others to notice it exists. Otherwise, it is like the proverbial tree in the forest that falls and no one hears, therefore no one knows if it made a sound.
Then again, I’m not an authority on this subject.
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I think “authority” has two main meanings:
- the one about trust, knowledge, greatness, leadership;
- the one about power, rules and rulers, or – even – authoritarism.
We love and admire the first, we mistrust (or despise) the second.
They are different, but they are interconnected. Perhaps they are two face of the same coin.
Perhaps you can’t understand one, without acknowleding the other side.
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Authority combines the respect you get (the kind not induced by fear) with the value of your experience on the subject. As much as somebody can immerse themself in something for a few months, there is no replacement for years of experience and thelong trail of long-term connections and experiences that develop with it.
This leads me to something key: folks with positive authority have patience. Patience is critical. You won’t become an expert overnight. You have to stay with it, which will be a lot easier if you are working with material you already know and love and have a history with.
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OK – re-skimming Women’s Ways of Knowing today for some course planning I’m doing and came across some really juicy bits about authority, but I thought you might like this one (summarized in my own words):
Authority requires others to be in a state of humility. Not humbleness, but humility. This is a closed state.
Experience allows others to be in a place of learning. This is an open space.
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I wrote about this and thought you’d be interested…
http://meshmarketer.com/internet-marketing/social-media/commentary/blogging-authority/
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Greatings, I have already seen it somethere…
Thank you
Nicolas
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