Step 1

Post Your Individual Response to the question 'If you were the Prime Minister for a day, which type of power would you rely on the most to create long-term change?'

• In your response, state your chosen type of power (coercive, reward, legitimate, expert, or referent) and explain why it would be the most effective for creating long-term change.

• Support your answer with examples or reasoning (e.g., real-world leaders, policies, or personal experiences).

• Keep your response concise (about 4-6 sentences) but well-explained.

• Please key in your response under the column for the power you have chosen.

Step 2

Comment on One Friend’s Post (and More if You Like!)

• Find a post that has not been commented on yet to ensure everyone gets feedback.

• Use the TAG Method for your comment:

  • Tell them what you liked about their response.

  • Ask them a question to push their thinking further.

  • Give them a suggestion or alternative perspective.

Feel free to comment on more than one post! The more discussion, the better.

Step 3 (Optional): Check Back and Respond

• If someone comments on your post, you can choose to reply to their question or suggestion.

• Engage in further discussions to explore different viewpoints if you like!

When I exude confidence and use my specialized skills to help our community, they will trust me as a leader and look up to me, coming to me for guidance and advice.

I will have influence over them due to my valuable ideas and leadership skills. Over time, I will gain their trust and keep learning new skills so that my expert power is long-term.

For example, when workers went on strike and protested against doing work, the government was obliged to do something about it because the workers had expertise in their respective domains and thus had expert power over the government.

When i have legitimate power, I would be able to set rules on that day that addresses main problems in the country, and as long as the rules are not changed, the rules i set for a better country will stay, which will allow the country to continuosly improve.

Some real world examples include how teachers and students come up with class norms they feel are best for the class, and when you change class, you class norms change too to better suit the type of people you are with and to mantain order.

A real-world example of this would be Hitler, forming the Nazis through his passionate beliefs coupled with his charisma. Of course, I wouldn't start taking over the world...

（Or will I?)

I would rely on referent power as, if I influence people and make them believe that what I am doing is right, it will be known to the whole world that I am not forcing them to do anything. They are using their own mind and are deciding for themselves that they want to listen and follow me. If the rest of the world also sees that there are a lot of people listening to me, and not because they are forced to, it will inspire more and more people to follow me. One of the many real life examples are Barack Obama. Using referent power, many people believe that his speeches was one of the most important reasons that Barack Obama became the president of the United States. One of the most influential speeches that Obama gave was the one on Healthcare when he was addressing the congress. Hence, I feel, like many people, Barack Obama's influence during his speeches is what caused him to become the first African-American to become one of the world's most influential leaders. Many people still follow Barack Obama's ways till this day. All in all I feel that referent power would be the best power to use.

- Lee-Anne Tan

- Lee-Anne Tan