Are you a leader, a manager, or a…?

‘Management’ has become a dirty word in business circles of late.

‘Leadership’, on the other hand could not be more in vogue.

But what do the terms actually mean, and why does it actually matter?

Godin (2014), puts it simply:

Management, is manipulating resources to achieve outcomes.

Leadership, is taking people on a quest.

Reduced further, we could say, management is concerned with outcomes, whilst leadership is concerned with people.

Both those things sound important right?

Right.

So why do we always talk about them as though they are mutually exclusive?

What if a good manager, learned to understand people enough to lead them on a quest?

And, what if a good leader, learned to manipulate resources in order to achieve better outcomes?

The truth is, leadership and management are skills. Not boxes.

And whilst nature will dictate your innate preference for people or task. Nurture, will dictate how well you develop those skills.

So who would you rather be?

The manager, the leader, or the person who’s seeking to improve at both?