Your personal power is earned or granted.  There is no other kind.

Granted Power

Based on your position in an organization (e.g., manager, director) or role in society (e.g., politician, police person) you are granted a level of authority within which it is expected your directions will be followed.  This positional or role based power is granted under certain conditions and the level of enforcement varies.

Granted power is largely exercised through recognition of the authority and associated respect for it.  The expectation is that the rules of governing body, that is a government, political, business or social organization will be respected.

In some cases penalties exist if the rules are not respected (resisting a police officer can lead to arrest) and tools can be authorized to be used assist in the enforcement of the rules (e.g., guns).

In other cases there can be consequences like being dismissed from your job or given a stern talking to but these are softer and sometime the negative results of disrespecting authority are ignored and sometimes not even fully enforceable.

In general though, granted power is easier for those who have it to exercise as there is some level of consequence associated with ignoring instructions from those who have granted power over you.

Earned Power

If are able to get others to act or take direction without the benefit of granted power you are exercising your earned power.  Those taking the directions are following you because you earned their respect.

Which is more powerful

Many studies have show a balanced combination of earned and granted power is most efficient in both achieving long term results as well as the immediate.

On it’s own granted power is the least effective and always has the downside that if the circumstances resulting in your granted power are removed you could be in trouble  (the dictator is overthrown).

How can this knowledge help?

Whether collaborating or leading others, consider the best way to achieve the desired results.  The directions you give must be clear enough and carry the ring of authority to be respected (granted) but also must include elements of empathy, ownership and respect of others to get their buy in.