Delegated authority radiates from the apex without reducing it

Evidence

Nevertheless, in appearance, the elements here approach the ruler in the measure of their relative ranks. This can result in a great solidity of the total structure: the forces which support its weight flow more securely and in a more concentrated form toward its apex than they do if they are all on one level. The superior significance of the prince and, more generally, of the individual who rates highest in any given group, transcends him and is transferred to the others in the measure in which they are close to him; and this is no diminution of his superiority, but a heightening of it. — Georg Simmel, The Sociology of Georg Simmel, 5417

Categorization

• XREF: The principle that proximity to a superior enhances rather than diminishes the superior’s stature parallels how Porfiry’s institutional authority legitimates rather than drains Raskolnikov’s confession. — connects to: Delegated discretionary authority need not reduce freedom when properly constrained — Frank Lovett, Republicanism, 31