“You manage things, you lead people. We went overboard on management and forgot about leadership. It might help if we ran the MBAs out of Washington. – Rear Admiral Grace Hopper, USN
Every day, otherwise smart people confuse leadership with management. By enforcing rules, giving orders or correcting the way things happen, they think they’re leading. Leadership is about influencing people, getting things done through them. Take a look at this comparison from the Clemmer Group:
| Management | Leadership |
|---|---|
| Systems, processes, and technology | People — context and culture |
| Goals, standards, and measurements | Preferred future, principles, and purpose |
| Control | Commitment |
| Strategic planning | Strategic opportunism |
| A way of doing | A way of being |
| Directing | Serving |
| Responding and reacting | Initiating and originating |
| Continuous improvement of what is | Innovative breakthroughs to what could be |
If this were the reality of management vs. leadership, how much time are you putting into leadership?