Debunking Warren Bennis
by Miki Saxon
“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” –Warren Bennis
The links below are to a series I did in 2008 refuting Bennis’ thesis.
According to Bennis
- 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.
(How weird; this post is nowhere to be found.)
- The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.
Think about it; would you work for a boss who exemplified just one side or the other?
Wally Bock said it best on Monday, It’s not about people. It’s about different kinds of work. If you’re responsible for the performance of a group you have to lead and you have to manage and you have to supervise. You don’t get a choice.
As to so-called leadership, remember that real leaders are proclaimed as such by those around them, not by themselves.
Flickr image credit: Robert Couse-Baker
