Managers and Leaders

They are two very different things.

The leader sets the goal, sets the direction to where she wants to go and then she works hard to get people people excited to join the journey with her. The manager on the other hand makes sure it is a smooth ride, removes obstacles along the way and sets the environment so that every team member enjoys the ride and can contribute with her best effort.

Both are needed, but you don’t need to be a great manager to be a great leader. Or vice versa. In our culture, we often look for one person to do both, to be ”the boss”. There are people who are both great leaders and managers, but they are not easy to find.

If you work for a leader who is not a manager, you are likely to hear a lot of vision, be really excited about where you are going, but you may miss structure and find the minutia of your day-to-day job cumbersome and stressful. You may be frustrated knowing where you want to go but not feel that you are progressing.

If you work for a great manager who is not a leader, you are likely to have a structured way of working but you may not be excited or motivated about where you are going. In fact, you may not even know where you are going. You may be frustrated by running around being busy without a sense that you are actually going somewhere.

The world needs both managers and leaders. Are you capable of both? If not, do you know where to seek for help?