In Italian working life, the title on your door or your place on the org chart is not what makes you a leader. What makes you a leader is whether people trust you, personally. Authority flows through relationships, not through structures. Your people need to know you—not just your role but you as a person.
They need to feel that you know them. If you lead from behind process, email, or formal channels without investing in face-to-face personal engagement, your authority will feel hollow to Italian colleagues. They will comply with your position but they will not follow you.
The relationship between leader and led is the mechanism through which everything else operates—decisions, motivation, loyalty, performance. Without the personal relationship, the rest does not function.
Comments