Manager != Leader
Author: Sergio Bogazzi | March 13, 2011 | In: Effectiveness
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All too often we see knowledge workers, media and other professionals confusing the role of a leader with that of a manager. Peter Drucker spelled it out clearly for us – leadership is about ‘doing the right things’, in other words about being effective. Management on the other hand is about ‘doing things right’ – it’s about being efficient, the first looks outward, the latter looks inward. What’s the big deal in confusing the two you ask? There are two general problems:
- A manager who strives for the glory of leadership, without understanding the essence of his role as a manger, will increase the risk of demotivating the team he manages, while also increasing the probability that goals and objectives go unmet.
- A leader who strives for the operational control of a manager, without turning his focus and vision outward, will cement the ineffectiveness of his decisions.
This begs the question, can an individual be both a great leader and manager?
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4 Responses to Manager != Leader
PierG
March 13th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
We (at least in italy) were born with the picture in mind of great leaders … and we have been told to call them managers.
… but we can be great player anyhow.
I think this is the big mistake: management is not sexy, is not cool, is very important ‘technical’ work. Leadership is another story: is more about inspiring.
I think you can be both with no problem if you avoid another myth: the might, crazy leaders that deserve movies or books. These are not necessary models to follow: we cannot be all Michael Jordan or John McEnroe o Steve Jobs. Pretending to me them can be dangerous for who’s around us
My 2€ cents,
PierG
http://pierg.wordpress.com
Sergio Bogazzi
March 13th, 2011 at 1:25 pm
Piergiorgio,
Thanks for the comment and well said, couldn’t agree with you more.
Sergio
Vinay Kapoor
March 14th, 2011 at 10:34 pm
Managers according to me are more annal. As you mentioned in your post, they are about doing things right. I would extend that thought to include that they are about doing what’s necessary. The movement of a product in the right direction typically cones from a manager not a leader, while the approach of how the product gets there comes from the leader. However, theres a bit of a leader in all of us, while only a few don’t have what it my take to be a manager.
Sergio Bogazzi
March 15th, 2011 at 5:54 am
Vinay, great to hear from you and thanks for your comment.
You hit the nail on the head, as knowledge workers, we’re all leaders in some respect, regardless of where we appear on the org chart. In fact, in the case of specialized knowledge work (e.g. software development), you have leaders at the bottom who make decisions each day that can greatly impact any level of the organization, this wasn’t necessarily the case with manual work.