A multifamily leasing manager has no direct reports, yet every property manager in the region acts on her recommendations.
The most influential people in most organizations aren’t the ones with the most authority. They’re the ones with the most credibility.
Jeffrey Pfeffer spent decades studying power inside organizations and came away convinced that formal authority is only one currency of influence, and often not the strongest. Expertise carries weight too, along with relationships and a willingness to put energy into other people’s priorities without keeping a tally.
In multifamily, someone who has built influence without a title has usually done it in a recognizable way.
- They are a subject matter expert
- They happily and willingly hand off what they know
- They follow through on what they say they’ll do
Waiting for a title before you start leading gets the whole thing backward.
She had no direct reports, yet her recommendations got put into practice across the region, because she’d earned credibility through what she knew and how reliably she showed up, and credibility moves faster than any org chart. You can start leading now, before the title, because the influence is already available to you.
Authority gets handed to you, but influence you have to build. — Mike Brewer
Discussion prompt: Who in your organization carries real influence without formal authority, and what did they do to build it? What would shift if you brought the same approach to your own role?