April 24, 2023

Are you a manager or a leader?

An illustration of the animals on noah's ark

Consider your own situation …

Managers maintain things and leaders change things. Is this true?

Management is about ‘what’ and ‘how’. Leadership is about ‘why’. Is this true?

Management is about the issues of the day, and leadership is about the issues of the future. Is this true?

Management is reactive and leadership is proactive. Is this true?

Managers are responsible for tasks, and leaders are responsible for people. Is this true?

Or you can think of this example… Leadership was what Noah used to get the ark built where there was no sea to sail on. Management was what he used to prevent the elephants seeing what the rabbits were up to on the voyage.

From Joanna Kozubska…
“There are times when a leader needs good, systematic management skills and times when a manager must inspire people. We have to be able to do both.”

So perhaps the whole leadership vs. management thing is a red herring?

What do think?

Which way would you want people to describe you?

Why?

My best wishes, Paul

Paul Matthews

CEO and Founder of People Alchemy

share this article:

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

related posts

Female graduate student at a podium giving a speech

If you were to give a speech

If you were to give such a commencement speech to ten thousand people about to start their adult lives, what would you say?

Read More
faint background a woman smiling. Overlaid in blue a stick woman walking up steps towards a flag at the top

Get visibility of what line managers are doing post training

Following training the attitude and input from the line managers of the delegates is pivotal in determining if they are able to operationalise what they learned.

Read More
Cartoon coach shouting through megaphone at four students running up a performance graph arrow

Introduce another player to the trainee/manager relationship

After delivering training you want to see behaviour change. The trainee may want to discuss this outside their line relationship. Introduce another player…

Read More
Illustration of 2 head silhouettes facing each other. One has a lock in the brain area. The other a growing pot and plant.

Do you have a mindset for learning transfer?

Whether you’re in learning and development or looking for a way to improve yourself, understand the difference between fixed and growth mindset.

Read More

search blog

Get your free weekly tip

You agree that we can keep a record of your details, and send you other occasional offers. See our Privacy Policy