Being a good manager does not necessarily mean you are a leader

Management skills such as forecasting, performance reviews, accounting, budgeting, etc. can be taught in a classroom. But being a good manager does not mean you are also a good leader. No matter how academically efficient the management course, they seldom are solely responsible for business success.

There are countless examples that prove this. Henry Ford had little more than an elementary school education, yet build an empire in the automotive industry.  Abraham Lincoln was a school dropout. I doubt anyone sees him as a failure.  Extraordinary success happens because of leadership.

Does this mean that management courses are of no value? Of course not! Academic knowledge is needed as a foundation. Leadership is then used to implement the principles. A good leader forms a team and motivates them to carry out management tasks.  Let’s take a look at the differences between leadership and management.

Leadership vs Management

A leader leads people, a manager manages tasks.

A leader has followers, a manager has subordinates.

Leaders show personality and charisma, managers express formal authority.

Leaders show, managers tell.

Leaders seek achievement from employees, managers want results.

Leaders are concerned with what is right, managers want to be right.

Leaders give credit for accomplishments, managers take credit.

Leaders take blame, managers blame.

Leaders break rules, managers make rules.

Leaders are proactive, managers are reactive.

Leaders are passionate, managers are controlling.

Leaders facilitate decisions, managers make decisions.

“Management is needed for efficiency. Leadership is needed for extraordinary performance.” ~Barrie Richardson, The +10% Principle

The Good News

To be a successful leader, you don’t have to be charismatic like Alexander the Great, JFK, or Churchill. Ordinary people such as teachers, ministers, coaches, and janitors can get extraordinary results from people because they lead by example.

Keep these common characteristics of good leaders in mind while developing your leadership skills:

Vision – A leader has a clear vision of where he wants to take his business, as well as a what the final ‘product’ will look like. But that’s just the start. They must also be able to share the vision with others in a way that empowers people so they’ll want to follow and be involved.

Integrity – Trust is vital! A leader must be trusted. Team members want to follow someone whose outward actions match their inner values. Such a leader can be trusted because they never veer from the inner values even when it might be a shortcut to do so.

Dedication – Leaders spend whatever time is necessary to accomplish their vision. Others are inspired by seeing the example, seeing the leader doing whatever it takes to get to the next step. When this happens, followers see opportunity to achieve something great for themselves.

What are you doing to develop your leadership skills? Can you see the difference between managing and leading?  As always, your comments are welcome.