Referent Power: What Is It and How to Harness It

Referent power is influence people give you because they respect you. Learn what the science says and how to build it, whatever your job title.

Think about one person in your life who you respect and willingly follow. They’re pretty amazing, aren’t they? That’s the kind of person you can become with referent power, and you don’t need a title to build it.

What Is Referent Power?

Referent power is the influence you have because people identify with you, admire you and want to be in your orbit, no matter what your job title says. You don’t have to be a manager to hold it. It does tend to grow out of a few things:

• Charisma
• Strong interpersonal skills
• Real character
• A clear sense of vision and purpose

The phrase comes from a 1959 framework by two social psychologists. They rooted referent power in identification: a “feeling of oneness” with the person you follow, or the wish for that kind of connection with them¹. Put simply, people follow you because they genuinely want to.

What Are the Six Types of Power?

In 1959, two researchers sorted power into five main types. A few years later, a sixth was added. Today the framework is still a useful vocabulary for thinking about influence, and it can offer insight into what to do (and what to avoid) as a leader.

Here are the six power bases¹

1. Legitimate Power comes from a position and its responsibilities. A shift supervisor gets legitimate power when hired, including the authority to assign tasks and set schedules.
2. Reward Power is the power to reward others, whether through money, gifts or verbal affirmation.
3. Coercive Power is the power to punish. If people know you can give them a bad review or fire them, that gives you a degree of authority. Be careful here. Leaders who lean on coercion tend to erode the very trust they need.
4. Referent Power is created through charisma and respect. Whether or not you hold any other type of power, referent power lets you influence someone because they choose to follow you.
5. Expert Power comes from expertise. Experience or credentials lend you expert power, and others look to you for guidance.
6. Information Power is influence based on access to information or evidence. It isn’t tied to the person so much as to what they know.

A quick honesty note. This model is a wonderful starting vocabulary, but it’s a 1959 idea, and researchers have wrestled to measure these categories cleanly. A major review in Psychological Bulletin found the scales used to test the model had “questionable content validity.” Referent power in particular tends to bleed into expert and legitimate power, because people don’t neatly separate “I like this person” from “this person is good at their job”².

So think of the six bases as a rough sketch rather than a precise map. Better-measured leadership research captures the behaviors behind referent power clearly, and that’s what the rest of this guide draws on.

Why Referent Power Is the Best Power

Referent power is the best power because people hand it to you freely. Plenty of leaders chase power over other people, and even when they claw their way to the top, nobody actually respects them.

Referent power works differently. It comes from being the best version of yourself.

Legitimate, reward, expert and coercive power all hand you control, sure, but none of them care about your ethics or character. That kind of power is unstable and can easily be taken away.

No one can take away referent power. Because it’s built on integrity, it goes wherever you go, even if you lose (or never land) that shiny title at a fancy company.

That respect-and-identification idea from the 1959 framework turns up again in modern leadership research. Across dozens of workplace studies, people working for an inspiring leader tend to be more satisfied with their jobs, and they’re happier still with the leader themselves³. When people identify with a leader, they move past simple compliance into real commitment.

How to Use Referent Power to Become a More Effective Leader

Referent power has nothing to do with sneaky techniques to manipulate people. It’s about letting go of the hungry chase for power over others and leaning into the desire to lead well.

If that sounds like a tall order, take a breath. We’ve got five tips to help you do exactly that.

#1 Clean the Toilets

There’s something magnetic about a leader who’ll roll up their sleeves and scrub the toilets.

It doesn’t have to be a literal toilet (though, hey, no judgment). It could be a tedious task nobody wants or a notoriously difficult client. Whatever it is, the moment you’re willing to do the grunt work your entry-level folks do, you earn respect and build referent power.

Pro Tip: Your team needs to know you’ll work beside them, but it’s also important to delegate and let people do the jobs you hired them for.

Action Step: Over the next week, look for a way to serve your team. Is there a client call everyone’s been putting off? An office project waiting for someone with time? Take a posture of humility and do what needs doing.

#2 Walk Your Talk

Live what you preach. Model the behavior you want.

You may know you should be the person you want your team to be. But are you actually doing it, Tuesday at 2pm, when nobody’s watching? This matters more than almost anything else. When researchers built and tested a measure of ethical leadership, the behaviors that stood out were the visible, everyday ones: doing what you say you’ll do, and modeling it consistently so people can see the alignment between your words and your actions⁴.

And trust in leaders is low. In a widely cited 2017 global survey, 63% of respondents said CEOs were somewhat or not at all credible⁵. Building trust starts with being someone worth trusting.

It boils down to small, repeatable stuff:

• Show up to meetings
• Be on time
• Follow through on what you promised
• Communicate openly

None of it is flashy. All of it tells your team they can count on you.

Pro Tip: Consistency in your words and behavior is what builds trust over time.

Action Step: Take an honest look at your daily habits. What’s one thing you can do to be more trustworthy? If you keep changing a request, make up your mind and stick with it. If you skip the weekly meeting at the last minute, block that time and treat it like a client meeting.

#3 Find the Balance

Leaders who command real respect expect their people to bring their A-game.

Leaders with referent power are strong visionaries who fight for the goal with clarity and even intensity.

It means staying focused on what’s best for your people and the organization. Pair those high expectations with a supportive environment, or mediocrity is what you’ll get.

Pro Tip: This is where communication becomes vital. If you only ever push, your team may feel their work is never good enough. Let them know you believe in them. Balance critique and high expectations with genuine affirmation. Remember that everyone values different kinds of recognition, so a hand-written note means everything to one person and a quick public shout-out means more to another. Not sure what makes someone feel appreciated? Ask them.

#4 Skip the Coercive Power

Even if you can fire someone, pass them over for a promotion or deny a raise, don’t swing it around like a weapon. It might feel like power in the moment, but it quietly eats away at loyalty and trust, which makes it that much harder for people to care or work hard.

Start with a mindset shift.

Instead of seeing your power as what you can take away, think about what you can offer.

You can hire good people, promote high performers and argue for someone’s raise.

The same goes for the small daily moments. Instead of always making the call just because you can, lift your team up and let them start making their own decisions. They’re adults. You’re their leader, so lead them like adults.

Action Step: Build a workspace where people hold real authority of their own. It sounds counterintuitive, but sharing power builds your own. When someone comes to you for approval, instead of “Yes, I approve that,” try “What do you think?” or “You’ve got a lot of experience here. I trust your call.”

#5 Supercharge Your Interpersonal Communication

Great leadership almost always traces back to great communication. We’re talking words, voice, face, body and even what you type.

If that sounds like a lot, breathe. You don’t have to fix it all at once. Just pick one area. Maybe you’ve got a commanding presence but your voice sounds a little shaky. How you speak shapes how others see you, and it can help or hurt your referent power.

In this video, Vanessa Van Edwards breaks down how vocal charisma goes beyond resonance.

Here are a few more communication tips for building referent power.

Run an email audit.

Open five important emails you’ve sent recently and look at the first 10 words of each. Count the warm words and the competent words. If you’re scoring low on either, slow down and intentionally fold in words like “together,” “appreciate” and “evaluate.”

Use open and strong body language.

Keep your head up and your posture open. Try slowing your movements, too. Many leaders move quickly, which can make them seem busy and unavailable. Slow your pace and gestures just a touch, then notice how people respond.

Prioritize active listening.

Some leaders do all the talking. Flip the script. Slow down and actually hear what they say. When someone speaks, focus on them and engage. Even when a dozen things are tugging at your sleeve, stay as present as you can. People always notice whether you have time for them.

Action Step: Pick one area of interpersonal communication, like vocal charisma or active listening, to work on this month.

What the Science Says About Building Respect

Modern leadership research, which measures these behaviors far more carefully than the original power framework ever did, keeps pointing to the same small handful of habits that create the identification behind referent power.

Three of them really stand out:

• Integrity under pressure. Followers weigh how you behave in a crisis heavily, because tense moments strip away any performance. Staying calm and consistent when things get messy is what earns the deepest respect.
• Sharing credit and taking responsibility. When you publicly credit your team and privately own the misses, you show that the group’s welfare matters more to you than your own standing. Research across more than 100 workplace studies found that teams led this way do better work and help each other more, and trust in the leader is what explains it⁶.
• Relational transparency. Non-transactional conversations, real listening and treating people with dignity build the affective trust that makes referent influence work.

Harness Referent Power to Supercharge Your Life

Referent power is a remarkable kind of authority to reach, because people follow you out of pure intrinsic motivation. They respect you for who you are, well beyond anything you can hand them.

Referent power doesn’t stop at 5pm. It reaches every corner of your life. Yes, you want influence at work, but it’ll quietly strengthen your relationships with friends, family and even total strangers.

True referent power is developed through a lifestyle of pursuing excellence and goodness.

Here are some ways to start building a life that earns respect:

• Listen more to your partner or kids. Put your phone down, make eye contact and engage with what they say.
• Pursue personal and professional development so you keep growing.
• Look for ways to show kindness to friends, coworkers and strangers.
• Be available in day-to-day life, even when there’s no emergency.
• Get involved with your chamber of commerce or a community organization.
• Stay calm and respectful when dealing with toxic coworkers.
• Develop a vision and a passion so you’re working toward a goal.

Famous People With Referent Power

Want to see referent power in the wild? Look at Oprah Winfrey. She’s got enormous expert power too, built over decades of interviewing, but countless people look up to her without ever having met her once. Her shows, recommendations, book clubs and interviews shape how regular people think.

Other people often pointed to for referent power:

• Mother Teresa
• Fred Rogers
• Dwayne Johnson
• Zendaya
• Steve Jobs

Each of these charismatic figures has a wide area of influence rooted largely in who they are. Their personalities and styles differ, but they tend to share many of these qualities:

• Strong communicator
• Open-minded
• Thoughtful
• Present
• Committed
• Generous with authority
• Self-aware
• Devoted to excellence
• Able to see other perspectives
• Focused on a clear goal

Workplace Examples of How to Build Referent Power

Those are the big ideas. Now let’s get specific. Here are concrete workplace moves that earn respect for how you lead.

When someone says something you disagree with, instead of getting critical, listen quietly until they finish. Try, “What I’m hearing is… is that right?” Ask follow-up questions and treat them with the same respect you’d give someone you agree with.

When you ask your team to handle a project, let them. Resist the urge to take over. If you want a status check, do it consistently (like at a weekly meeting) so it doesn’t feel like pressure.

When you say you care about your team, back it up. Follow up on concerns people raised before, add birthday reminders to your phone and be emotionally present in conversations.

Show you’re available to support people. Leave your door open when you aren’t in focused work, offer to help when someone’s struggling, encourage the team through a tough stretch and ignore your notifications during one-on-ones.

Give people authority and autonomy by streamlining workflows. Remove yourself from approvals where you can, and respond promptly where you can’t. When tasks bottleneck at the top, employees often misread it as an unwillingness to lead.

Help people take ownership by building a collaborative environment. Instead of routing every idea through you, ask “What do you think?” and then actually listen. Make eye contact, nod to encourage them and respond to what they said. When people own the ideas that move the company forward, they feel more self-respect and admire you for it.

Frequently Asked Questions About Referent Power

Referent Power Roundup

As you work on building authority and trust with others, remember these key elements to establish referent power.

• Be the first to do difficult things
• Stand up for your people
• Encourage collaboration and interaction
• Push for excellence but balance it with affirmation
• Use power to give and support rather than to dominate
• Work on your interpersonal skills
• Be present and actively listen
• Follow through on what you say
• Care about other people

As a leader, you’re focused on the well-being of your team. Not sure what kind of leader you are? Learn how to sharpen your style with our guide on The 6 Charismatic Leadership Styles.

References