Leader/Manager = Leadager
by Miki SaxonNick McCormick’s comment left on George Ambler’s Leaders vs. Managers….. Are they really different? did a great job summing up my feelings on this perpetual controversy.
George cites Warren Bennis’ statement “There is a profound difference between management and leadership, and both are important. To manage means to bring about, to accomplish, to have charge of or responsibility for, to conduct. Leading is influencing, guiding in a direction, course, action, opinion. The distinction is crucial”
In part Nick said, “To be sure, for a person to be a good manager, s/he must have many leadership traits. I like your last comment which references leading first then managing. Good leaders are good managers and vice versa….Leadership and management are very tightly intertwined. Ignoring characteristics of one is done at the expense of the other.”
I believe that they’re more than just intertwined, I believe the combination is what facilitates the adjectives ‘good’, ‘mediocre’, ‘bad’ and various shades in-between when people discuss those for whom they work.
George uses the following checklist from Bennis’ On Becoming A Leader
Being a bit of a heretic I thought that starting tomorrow it would be interesting to critique one or two items a day in light of today’s modern workforce and I sincerely hope that many of you will weigh in with your own thoughts.
- The manager administers; the leader innovates.
- The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
- The manager maintains; the leader develops.
- The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
- The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
- The manager accepts reality; the leader investigates it.
- The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
- The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
- The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader has his or her eye on the horizon.
- The manager imitates; the leader originates.
- The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
- The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.
- The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
Your comments—priceless
Image credit: quil
April 30th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Thanks for your comments. I will read this posting and let you know what I think. It looks as if you spend a good deal of time on your blog and it adds value to others. Thanks. Jann
April 30th, 2008 at 1:59 pm
Hi Jann, nice of you to drop by. The series starts tomorrow and I’m really looking forward to lots of varied input.
May 1st, 2008 at 12:16 am
[…] mentioned, today starts a seven part series discussing Warren Bennis’ 13 differences between leaders […]
May 7th, 2008 at 5:15 am
I agree wholeheartedly that great managers have BOTH qualities…though I know plenty of average managers who don’t have either. I’d like it required that managers have at least one half of Bennis’ qualities in order to lead a team. Is that too much to strive for?
May 7th, 2008 at 8:22 am
Phil, thanks for stopping by.To combine them should definitely be the goal, but consider how many people in leadership roles have few to none of them. Want proof? Consider the majority of politicians and too many CEOs:)
May 8th, 2008 at 2:01 am
hi Miki,
The last bullet in your comparison reminds me of a classic definition for a COO and CEO respectively. Where the former is the “doer” while the latter is the “thinker”. I appreciate your thought process.
May 8th, 2008 at 11:26 am
Hi Suresh, thanks for stopping by. I always did find that image amusing.
Can’t you just see the COO running around DOING everything to make the company run and the CEO settled deep in an armchair listening to Bach—although these days I guess it’s rap—THINKING about making the company run next quarter, I mean year.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:16 am
[…] a comment on the prequel to this series Phil Gerbyshak said, “I agree wholeheartedly that great managers have BOTH […]
July 7th, 2008 at 3:31 am
[…] April 29 I wrote Leader/manager = leadager and followed it up with a seven-day series arguing that Warren Bennis’ statement “There is […]
July 8th, 2008 at 3:37 am
I have very little good to say about Bennis. He made a fortune writing books about leadership, over 20 and never solved the problem. But he made a lot of money consulting, speaking and selling books. Bennis never proved in the heat of battle what he has professed to be true. But he was very successful at selling it.
The whole issue of the difference between managers and leaders is a waste of time. Don’t get confused by catchy answers like “A manager does things right, a leader does the right thing.” They sell books but they have no substance.
Managing applies to the effective use of a resource such as money management or supply chain management or people management or what-have-you.
Leadership applies to people and denotes the sending of value standard messages to people which they then follow/use. Thus we say that they have been “led” in the direction of those value standards. Leadership is therefore one side of the coin called values, the other side being followership.
So leadership is quite simply what followers use to determine how to do their work.
Leadership in the workplace consists of the value standards reflected in everything that an employee experiences because these standards are what employees follow by using them to perform their work. Most of what the employee experiences is the support or lack thereof provided by management – such as training, tools, parts, discipline, direction, material, procedures, rules, technical advice, documentation, information, etc.
Leadership is not a process any manager can change. It happens inexorably every minute of every day because of what people follow. The only choice available to a manager is the standard (good, bad, mediocre or in between) which people will follow.
Best regards, Ben
Author “Leading People to be Highly Motivated and Committed”
July 9th, 2008 at 10:26 am
Hi Ben, Sorry for the delay, you got caught by Akismet:)
I agree totally with your comments about Bennis and many other leadership pundits. But leadership is an industry like any other and people are in it to earn a living. The better your sound bites > the higher your profile > the better your paycheck.
July 27th, 2008 at 9:26 pm
Wow… This post is cool. Leadager… That’s a new word to me. Ha..
July 27th, 2008 at 11:05 pm
Hi Low Han, welcome and thanks for the kind words. Leadager is a new word for everyone. I coined it because there’s a real need for a word that accurately describe a person who can succeed with today’s workforce.
I hope you’ll come back and share some of your thoughts with us in the future.
August 3rd, 2008 at 8:05 am
[…] http://www.mappingcompanysuccess.com/leadermanager-leadager/ […]
August 3rd, 2008 at 11:49 pm
I enjoyed Ben’s comments in relation to Bennis, although a lot of what Bennis says is relevent.
The concern with some leaders and thier styles is that they over reach, a good performer/ manager/deliverer is not necessarily a good leader.
If anything they have through out thier working life shown themselves to be loyal and true toilers and little more.
The problem is how to deal with and quickly the wrong appointment, so as all parties maintain dignity.( Bennis included ) Regards Jude
August 4th, 2008 at 9:18 am
Hi Jude, thanks for stopping by and adding to the conversation.The disagreement many of us have with Bennis is that a manager who fits his description would fare poorly managing today’s workforce, which is far different from what it was. No manager can motivate people, fire up productivity, encourage innovation, etc., without possessing many of the so-called leadership traits.
If you have time, read the next seven posts addressing each of the specific traits.
December 9th, 2008 at 7:05 am
[…] a post last spring, I listed Warren Bennis’ leadership skills and in 7 follow-up posts discussed why today’s managers find it hard to do their job without […]
December 16th, 2008 at 5:49 am
[…] to Warren Bennis there are 13 differences between leaders and managers. We previously discussed whether the modern workforce can actually be managed without doing […]
January 9th, 2009 at 5:32 am
[…] you want to know more about what truly engaged employees do, how real leadagers act and what a culture should be. Take the time to read the articles—then tweak as much as […]