Credibility: How Leaders Gain and Lose It: Why People Demand it

Tension Between Freedom and Constraint

Organizational consultant Neale Clapp once told us that the fundamental tension for people in organizations is the tension between freedom and constraint. When do you delegate and when do you decide? When do you accept another's authority and when do you rebel against it? When do you empower others and when do you use authority or position power? When do you set limits and when do you break the rules? When do you listen and when do you tell? When do you let go and when do you hold on?

To say that leaders should always increase freedom and relax all constraints is intellectually dishonest and totally unrealistic. To say that constituents should always accept the constraints and never challenge the status ...