ARE YOU A LEADER OR A MANAGER?

Today I'd like to talk about one of those two sets of words that are commonly used interchangeably which is Leader and Manager or Leadership and Management or a President and a Boss.

We'll first acknowledge the different stands other people have taken on this topic. Some people agree the are the same, others say they are complimentary, some same there are interchangeable and some say they are totally different things.

In this post, we'll take the position of the two being totally different.

The activity of a manager involves four main area of focus which it can revolve around but cannot totally abandon. The areas of focus are Organizing, Directing, Planning and Controlling.

The whole activity of a leader always involves one word and that's INSPIRATION. A leader above all other task must inspire and influence people's behavior and attitude toward a goal.

Without wasting much time, let's see if we can from the above definition establish the fact that leadership and Management, though connected at some points mean two different things.

First, all leaders are managers but not all managers are leaders. This is because leadership must involve Organizing and Planning but Management must not involve influence or inspiration.

Secondly, a manager at the end of the day is only doing his job. He's not somebody who looks at his whole self while he is performing his duties. There are some times that all a manager has to do is assign the best hands to do a job.

Thirdly, a leader has to prove to his followers everyday through inspiration why they should listen to him, follow him or pursue the goal at hand. An employee on the other has to do the job for pay or fear of loosing it.

Fourth, Leadership has been there from time immemorial and through the different stages the development has gone through. It's all about being able to influence but a manager needs Competence.

Fifth, Leadership is not always about authoritative positions. A leader emerges through vision, charm and charisma. A manager is a Boss. You don't like your boss but you still have to deal with him.

You have to understand though that a manager can still be a leader but it's not necessarily required of him.

Again you should know that leadership is not really more superior than a management theorically because some leaders are not even great managers if given the opportunity.

Most times, leaders need good managers whereas good managers can become good leader because a leader can be born or made.

Note also that grammatically, these two words can totally be interchangeably used which is why i didn't include any dictionary definitions in this post.

Thanks for reading.