Management vs. Leadership

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Permalink Reply by Debbie Wise on May 20, 2009 at 5:57pm

I liked the distinction made between managers and leaders in this video clip. I think all professionals at every level can be great leaders. You don't have to be in a position of authority or part of the senior management team to lead.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Robinson on May 22, 2009 at 12:01pm

Debbie, Thanks for the great post and video on this. Hopefully others will jump in as well.

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Permalink Reply by Christopher Fernando Robbins on September 10, 2009 at 10:39pm

I concur Debbie. I too like the distinction made between managers and leaders. As I think back on the days before Frontier Housing, when I was employeed by Lowe's, I ponder on the differences that I noticed between the department "team leaders" and the department "managers." They both shared a common goal, but the managers were mostly only interested in meeting the sales quota for a particular day, week, month, or year. The team leaders concentrated more on encouraging and inspiring the members of the departments to do their best in their effort to reach those quotas. I saw many a good leaders become managers in that organization. A good leader has the potential to become a great manager. Likewise a great manager must be able to lead.

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Permalink Reply by Watchen Harris Bruce on May 27, 2009 at 5:44am

According to Furnham (2007), "managers are people that do things right and leaders are people who do the right thing". In other words, leaders are the visionaries and managers provide the structure for the vision. Together they make the vision a reality.

You do not have to be a manager to be a leader. A leader is someone who sees the bigger picture and is a visionary and transformational leader and a manager is focus on daily short-term issues and is a transactional leader.

Managers and leaders have different roles, but share in a common goal. Both are necessary for success and therefore a good leader displays good managerial skills and a good manager displays good leadership. (Wren, 1995).

Furbham, A. (2007). Managers and Leaders. The twin pillars of success. Irish Veterinary Journal.

Wren, J. T. (1995). The Leader's Companion: Insights of Leadership through the ages: The Free Press, NY.

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Permalink Reply by John Puskar on June 4, 2009 at 5:24pm

I think these are all wonderful insights. Personally I think John Maxwell says it best, "Making sure the work is done is the accomplishment of a manager. Inspiring others to do better work is the accomplishment of a leader" (Developing the Leader Within You).

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Permalink Reply by Mike Knutson on June 8, 2009 at 9:49pm

I like what Seth Godin say about the Leadership vs. Management topic in his book Tribes. “Management is about manipulating resources to get a known job done…. Leadership, on the other hand, is about creating change that you believe in.” (p. 13-14) Godin goes on to say that leaders create a movement by empowering others to communicate. And they do this by motivating, connecting, and leveraging/growing members of the movement.

Godin places a very high value on leadership because he feels people today, desire change.
The book is short, but if you’re looking for something short check out his presentation at TED.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Robinson on June 9, 2009 at 10:06am

I really like this comment too Mike. We often do get our terms mixed when we think of Management vs. Leadership. In my humble opinion, that entire school of thought that was so popular a while back that talks about "Situational Leadership" is very useful, but in many ways I believe it is mis-named. I think it should be "Situational Management" because they are actually talking about 4 distinct ways to manage your organization, not necessarily creating change you can belive in. For overview of Situational Leadership Theory:
I love the second part of what you attribute to Godin as well that leaders create a movement by empowering others to communicate. That is powerful stuff, but also the kind of stuff that needs to be present in an organization or a community for people to move forward and realize their potential.

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Permalink Reply by Mike Knutson on June 10, 2009 at 12:04am

Godin may be a marketing guru, but I think his stuff is even more powerful for those of us who want to bring about change in our communities. If I have to choose between leadership and management, I chose leadership.

My problem,however, is what happens when the leadership that Godin describes crashes into the bureaucracy of the government and banking worlds that we have to partner with on a daily basis? Can this leadership operate under those constraints?

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Permalink Reply by Marshall E. Crawford, Jr. on June 15, 2009 at 12:54pm

Here is a good article on the subject matter.

Attachments:

• makes-leader.pdf, 338 KB

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Permalink Reply by Mike Knutson on June 27, 2009 at 10:36am

Excellent primer on the importance of emotional intelligence in leaders. Emotional intelligence is undoubtely a critical characteristic for both managers and leaders.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Robinson on June 25, 2009 at 11:31am

Thanks Marshall, very good piece! I just read one on Authentic Leadership, I will locate that and post it as well.

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