Welcome to the Judge Academy module on Leadership vs. Authority. During this module, we’ll go over the differences between leadership and authority, discuss the importance of those differences, and talk about how to leverage both leadership and authority to become a better judge.

Authority is a separate concept that is often confused with leadership. In the context of judging, it is most similar to the following definition from the Oxford English Dictionary:

“The power or right to give orders, make decisions, and enforce obedience.”

Those powers and rights aren’t something higher-level judges have innately because of their level. Instead, authority is part of a position or role. It’s something you’re given, usually as part of a single event, and it’s a piece of what makes a larger hierarchical structure work.

Okay, so why does this matter? After all, if you have authority, that’s what matters – you can make people do what you think should be done, so all that’s left to do is order them around. Well, not so fast – that’s not actually true…and this module will cover the topic in depth. Lets begin!