Defining Management And Leadership

Management and Leadership are separate although complementary concepts. Each has its own function and characteristic activities, and both are necessary for organizational success.

In researching and writing about leaders for more than 15 years, I’m convinced we have a lot of managers and not nearly enough leaders. Managers control functions. In fact, the word “manager” comes from the Latin word manus or hand. It originally referred to the hands on the reins that held the horse. Managers control the systems and techniques that make an organization run.

Managers are appointed. They have legitimate power that allows them to reward and punish. Their ability to influence is founded on the formal authority inherent in their positions.

Management is about coping with complexity, bringing order and consistency to a range of activities which must be coordinated in order to achieve an end result – i.e. the production of goods and/or services.

In summary management can be defined as "...the process of working through individuals and groups to accomplish organisational goals."

Leaders! Now that’s another subject!

In contrast, leaders may be appointed or they may emerge from within a group. Let’s look at a few definitions…

Leaders create an exiting vision - leaders show the way…

My definition of a leader . . . is a man who can persuade people to do what they don't want to do, or do what they're too lazy to do, and like it. Harry S. Truman, 1884-1972, Thirty-third President of the United States.

A manager takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go but ought to." Rosalyn Carter.

The first job of a leader is to define a vision for the organization... Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality. Warren Bennis, President, University of Cincinnati.

Leaders influence people and convince them to do what needs to be done. They establish direction and align people to work together. They move people to take action and inspire them with a shared decision of who they can be and what they can do! You don’t have to be a manager to influence people!

If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more, you are a leader. John Quincy Adams quotes (American 6th US President (1825-1829).

“At the end of the day, we bet on people, not strategy.” Larry Bossidy, CEO of Allied Signal Corporation.

Leadership is about coping with change, responding to the increasingly competitive and volatile environment in which organizations operate.

“Leadership is coping with change … More change always demands more leadership” John P. Kotter. Professor of Leadership Harvard Business School.

Positive leaders come from a place of service. They esteem and value others by affirming them and making them feel significant. They make the way, show the way and light the way! They believe in people and they help them grow by holding them accountable for their actions.

"It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbled, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs and comes short again and again; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who, at the best, knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who, at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those timid souls who know neither victory or defeat."

To summarise: we define leadership as the ability to create a shared vision, communicate and motivate people to make the vision a reality and to plan and adapt to the future.

A few years ago, Forbes magazine published a study on leaders. They found that 15% of people were considered natural born leaders, 15% will never be leaders and 70% can learn to lead. Yes, most leaders are made, not born, though they are seldom made as much by others as by themselves.