Leadership Trends and Realities: Leadership and Management - What are the Similarities and Differences?

Posted by Jonena Relth, President and Leadership Evangelist

I've been watching a discussion on the Leadership Think Tank group on LinkedIn for a while now and am simply amazed at how may definitions, explanations, etc. people offer up for the differences and similarities of management and leadership. To date, there are over 821 entries ranging from a few words to several paragraphs each. People quote just about every thought leader out there, including the list below from http://www.maxwideman.com/papers/leader/leadermanager.htm

"The respective positions of leaders and managers on a number of issues are shown listed in the table below. It is a truism that leadership focuses on doing "the right things" while managers focus on doing "the things right".

Managers focus on	Leadership focuses on
Goals & objectives Telling how and when Shorter range Organization & structure Autocracy Restraining Maintaining Conforming Imitating Administrating Directing & Controlling Procedures Consistency Risk-avoidance Bottom line	Vision Selling what and why Longer range People Democracy Enabling Developing Challenging Originating Innovating Inspiring trust Policy Flexibility Risk-opportunity Top line
"Good managers do the things right"	"Good leadership does the right thing"

8. Bennis, W., On Becoming a Leader, Addison Wesley, 1989.
9. McLean, J. W., & Weitzel, W., Leadership: Magic, Myth or Method?, AMACOM, 1991.
10. Covey, S. R., Principle-Centered Leadership, Summit Books, 1991.
11. Adapted from Warren Bennis On Becoming a Leader, Addison Wesley, 1989; J. W. McLean & William Weitzel Leadership: Magic, Myth or Method?, AMACOM, 1991; Stephen R. Covey Principle-Centered Leadership, Summit Books, 1991.

I invite you to join the group in LinkedIn and let me know what you think. Sometimes I think we spend too much time analyzing things instead of taking action. Is this one of these times? Now would that be the question for a leader or a manager...?