To You, What’s The Difference Between a Manager and a Leader?
By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter
I offer the standard answer as well as the advanced answer to the question.
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So today’s question is “To you, what’s the difference between a leader and a manager?”
So, you know I did a Google search just to get their definition. They even have this boxed apart from the search results. The main difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have people who follow them while managers have people who work for them. Then, they talk about a business owner in that they need to be a leader and a manager.
Now I am going to take that a little bit further and talk in terms of hello a manager it is someone who controls activities that require people to conform to certain behaviors. A leader is someone who inspires individuals to follow them so a leader is someone who may set the vision. The manager is going to be the individual who’s staring at every bit of minutiae that they do. . . That’s really a micromanager.
There are going to be watching their activities to make sure there’s conformity. The leader may say, “You know, this is the result I want to get to. This is where I want to go. This is where we, as an organization, need to get to,” and then draw out from people how they think the group can get there or how they think the organization can there. And by doing this, inspire faith, fidelity, belief that this is a person that can be trusted because they are motivated to help.
So, again, to me the leadership quality, yes, involves following but there’s a way to follow. It’s not by dictating (although, at certain points, you may have to manage). But, the leadership quality involves a desire to follow this person because you trust them and believe in them. When you’re asked this or in an interview, generally, this is asked of managerial or executive candidates, not the staff individuals.
And you know they’re looking for examples of leadership here. They may also want to see that she could manage the process too. But here you need to be prepared with leadership examples that tell your story, that affirm how people joined with you. and went to hell and beyond to get to them.
So I hope you follow this advice. Emphasize leadership skills though don’t neglect the management part because at the end of the day, organizations may like to hire visionaries and I will use Steve Jobs as an example. The man was an incredible visionary. He also, at the end of the day, delivered on what the vision was. It involved managing processes.
So, again, I think in terms of both. Don’t neglect one for the other; then you’ll tend to lose.
ABOUT JEFF ALTMAN, THE BIG GAME HUNTER
Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter is a coach who worked as a recruiter for what seems like one hundred years. His work involves career coaching, as well as executive job search coaching, job coaching, and interview coaching. He is the host of “No BS Job Search Advice Radio,” the #1 podcast in iTunes for job search with over 2400 episodes.
Are you interested in 1:1 coaching, interview coaching, advice about networking more effectively, how to negotiate your offer or leadership coaching? People hire me to provide No BS career advice whether that is about a job search, hiring better, leadership, management or support with a workplace issue. Schedule a discovery call at my website, www.TheBigGameHunter.us
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