Under the fragile business landscape of modern times, leaders must strike a delicate balance: be strong enough to make decisive, top-down decisions in some situations, and leave room in others to foster agility, adaptability, and inclusiveness. Leadership is no longer just a command-and-control approach; nor does it solely require the abilities to empower, pivot, and co-create. Male and female executives across all industries are demonstrating that influence and responsiveness can not only coexist peacefully but also drive sustainable success.
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New Context of Leadership
The 21st-century organisation is fluid. It must manage uncertainty more quickly than ever due to digital transformation, geopolitical disruptions, changing employee expectations, and faster innovation cycles. There needs to be authority to set direction, hold people accountable, and bring clarity during crises. But it is also essential to have agility: the ability to adapt, listen, and pivot. This balance helps prevent organisations from becoming immobilised by consensus and crippled by layered structures.
Leadership Without Control: Leading with Confidence
Authority no longer equals power but influence. Leaders like Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors, exemplify this shift. Barra hasn’t used her authority to silence others but to accelerate GM’s electric vehicle strategy. By clarifying her priorities, she is explicit rather than prescriptive in guiding her teams on implementation details, trusting empowered managers and engineers.
Similarly, Satya Nadella’s authoritative leadership at Microsoft is evident, where he sets cultural priorities such as empathy, learning, and collaboration, encouraging teams to experiment and take risks. Authority today is less about controlling every step; it is more about setting the right tone and providing psychological safety to support agile work environments and innovation.
Competitive advantage in Agility
Agility is often associated with start-ups, but large companies are coming to realise that change is not something that can be easily explored. PepsiCo, whose former CEO was Indra Nooyi, exemplifies agility, as executives anticipated the trend of consumers moving toward healthier products and switched to healthier product lines well before it became industry standard.
Elon Musk at Tesla and SpaceX, on the other hand, demonstrates agility in practice, with products being iterated quickly and the organisation kept flexible. However, Musk’s approach also highlights potential dangers of over-relying on agility (without a proper balance of authority): too many pivots can complicate life for teams and investors. The lesson is clear: Agility needs structure to prevent chaos.
Gendered Aspect of Balance
Studies suggest that women leaders tend to excel at participatory, flexible leadership, while men are more inclined toward an authoritative style. However, the most effective leaders combine both approaches.
Former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was known for her empathy and agility, exercising decisive authority when needed. Her timely and transparent COVID-19 response was praised globally. Ardern showed that effective crisis management combines authority with agility in responding to scientific advice and societal needs.
In business, Sheryl Sandberg, former Meta COO, balanced authority and empowerment by promoting discipline and flexibility as Facebook expanded globally. She built fast-growing organizations that encouraged collaboration.
Meanwhile, executives like Jamie Dimon of JPMorgan Chase demonstrate that combining authority with strategic flexibility is crucial for survival in volatile markets. A shift to digital banking followed Dimon’s crisis management in 2008.
Practical Balance Act
1. Crisis Situations
During a crisis, power tends to be more centralised. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, companies like Zoom, led by Eric Yuan, had to make authoritative decisions to expand their infrastructure rapidly. However, as stability was regained, agility also became crucial: consistently adding new features to retain users beyond the pandemic surge.
2. Innovation and Development
Agility is key in innovation-driven environments. Susan Wojcicki, the former YouTube CEO, did not want to suppress experimentation, but rather to ensure it was within the established guardrails to stay compliant and protect the brand. In this case, authority served as a stabilising force, not as a restrictive one.
3. People Management
Finding the balance between power and quick reaction is especially important when managing a modern workforce. Employees seek a sense of purpose and autonomy, but they also want clarity and accountability. An example of leaders who have mastered these skills is Ratan Tata, who combined authority with rapid decision-making to support entrepreneurial efforts across the Tata Group.
The Hazards of Unbalanced Forces
Excessive power within an organisation can hinder innovation, foster a fearful organisational culture, and even make organisations unresponsive. On the other hand, too much agility can lead to disorganisation, a loss of accountability, and the abandonment of long-term strategic goals. A Harvard Business Review report highlights that organisations that balance their leadership models are 4.5 times more likely to outperform their peers in both flexibility and operational control.
Authority/Agility as Dual Engines
Authority and agility are opposite qualities that must be balanced for success and future prosperity in leadership, whether in ASEAN, the West, or other regions. Authority provides stability, trust, and direction, while agility fosters responsiveness, innovation, and relevance. Examples of leaders like Mary Barra, Jacinda Ardern, Satya Nadella, and Indra Nooyi show that these qualities are not mutually exclusive but instead work together as complementary forces.
In times of growing business uncertainty, successful leaders will be those who can balance decisive authority with adaptable agility, creating resilient, innovative, and human-centered organisations.
