The more you use it, the less of it you have left.
Real authority doesn't have to exert itself to be effective. Real authority seeks truth, not damage control. Real authority is justice and compassion together, not enforced compliance and compassion when it doesn't interfere with churning out cookie-cutter automatons.
Real authority doesn't have to say "you're suspended for 10 days, but we'll reduce it to three if you don't make trouble for us and make us look bad"...that's tin-pot-dictator authority.