Questioning the Logic of 'Only an Expert Can..."

Leaders have to take control, assert their will, use their political power, and push ahead to get results. How the leader uses power can be either subtle or brutish, but it’s unquestioned that such power is necessary to accomplish anything, to bring order out of chaos. In the logic of this kind of power, people need to be forced to do work through either rewards or threats. People get rewarded if they are compliant and obedient, if they don’t ask questions or challenge the status quo. Creativity and new ideas are construed as a threat to authority; better to use old, familiar solutions repetitively, even when they don’t work. People who work in this machine-like environment do begin to behave as machines, robotically performing tasks, convinced they’re not creative, waiting for experts and entrepreneurs to tell them what to do.

Wheatley, Margaret; Frieze, Deborah (2011-04-11). Walk Out Walk On: A Learning Journey into Communities Daring to Live the Future Now (p. 64). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition.