power must include all three: responsibility, authority and ability
- responsibility without authority is ineffective
- If you give me the responsibility of taking care of your puppy for an afternoon, but don't give me the authority to control where he may go, he may wander into traffic and be maimed or killed. I will not be able to carry out my responsibility.
- authority without responsibility is dangerous
- If you give me the authority to control where the puppy will go, but don't let me know that you want me to take sole responsibility for him, I may fail to use my authority, thinking others have taken responsibility for him. The result may be that I do not use my authority and the puppy may wander into traffic.
- responsibility and authority without ability leads to
neglect
- If you give me the responsibility of taking care of your puppy, and the authority I need to carry it out, but I am not able to carry it out, your puppy will not be cared for.
- I - and all the other citizens of my town - have implicitly given the local police power over traffic in my town. This means that I have given them the responsibility of trying to cut down the number of traffic accidents and the authority to carry out that responsibility, by enforcing the city's traffic laws.