David Ogilvy (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Management is your day job; leadership is your career.
That is a variation on a comment I heard recently from an executive who was speaking about the responsibilities that senior managers have to lead their organizations through change. Managers are expected to handle the workload; leaders are expected to determine what comes next.
Management is a disciplinary process while leadership is an aspirational intention. Managers must keep things in order through planning, executing, and evaluating. Leaders point over the horizon and encourage people to go along for the ride because it will be challenging, daunting and exciting.
Managers by nature are pragmatists; leaders are dreamers. Think of Apple. Steve Jobs was the dreamer; Tim Cook is the doer. One could say the same for Microsoft when Bill Gates viewed himself as the visionary and Steve Ballmer was the operator.
Those men serve as archetypes but reality demands more. Think Google. More recently Larry Page has shifted his role from co-creator at Google to CEO displacing Eric Schmidt in day-to-day operations. Organizations need their people; especially those at the top to get things done as well as show others people how to do more. Managers are required to lead and leaders are expected to manage. It is a challenge to both well so here’s a quick shorthand guide to adopting a dual mindset.
As a manager you will:
- Direct the workflow by setting clear expectations;
- Supervise the team by delegating authority and responsibilities according to ability ; and
- Keep the projects on time and within budget by putting people into positions where they can succeed.
As a leader you will:
- Challenge convention by encouraging people to think of possibilities rather than constraints;
- Radiate optimism by looking for positive outcomes; and
- Inspire others to do their best by encouraging them to believe in themselves and their abilities.
As a manager and leader you will:
- Communicate for understanding with frequent check-ins;
- Coach for success so that people develop their talents and skills; and
- Measure for results, e.g. did we do what we said we would do?
Additionally successful managers-leaders are those follow a suggestion made by advertising legend, David Ogilvy. "Hire people who are better than you are, then leave them to get on with it . . . Look for people who will aim for the remarkable, who will not settle for the routine." You want smart people, yes, but more than smarts you want people who are not bound by artificial limits and instead driven by the need to do good work because it enriches them and in turn inspires the organization.
Let me offer a note of caution. Leadership is not a solitary endeavor; it only works with the cooperation of others. While it falls to the leader to think ahead and in doing so she will advance her career, too much focus on personal gain is not productive. Overtime it will erode a leader’s ability to connect with others and when that happens the leader is left to her own devices. Bye-bye career!
The higher one rises in an organization, the greater are the responsibilities. Therefore managers learn to delegate and in doing so free themselves to be more strategic and in the process develop the talents of others and grow the capacity of the organization to meet rising challenges. That’s what we call leadership.
