The Value of Leaders and Managers
Ela Crain discusses the difference between managers and leaders, and the important role each play in a company
These days, leadership and management are often viewed as analogous, yet many trailblazers have been insisting for decades that to manage and to lead are hardly one in the same. For example, professor Abraham Zaleznik writing for The Harvard Business Review back in 1977, wrote: “A managerial culture emphasizes rationality and control. Whether his or her energies are directed toward goals, resources, organization structures, or people, a manager is a problem solver. The manager asks: ‘What problems have to be solved, and what are the best ways to achieve results so that people will continue to contribute to this organization?’” Leaders on the other hand, he argues, thrive in the creative, chaotic realm, and have more of a kinship with artists and visionaries than with their managerial counterparts.
Yet in this day and age, we often find ourselves managing rather than leading, bombarded by daily tasks that hinder our ability to truly lead. Through her workshops, Release the Leader In You, Ela Crain teaches participants how everyone can embrace and bring forward their inner leader. Here, she shares some insights on how to incorporate both leadership and management skills into our daily lives.
What do you see as the difference between leadership and management?
I believe that these two terms are closer to each other than ever, as most startups these days are founded by leaders who have to manage others, or managers who need to bring forth their leadership traits.
Having to fulfil both roles at a time is not the worst thing, but it will inevitably become harder to maintain as the company grows. Saying that, juggling both tasks will give you the opportunity to discover which one of these roles is more natural for you, and this recognition can be crucial for a startup’s future.
To put it briefly, the most crucial parts that separate leadership from management is a vision, and the ability to create a community. If you look at Martin Luther King Jr. or Gandhi: they were leaders, not managers.
Ironically, leaders may not be the best people to run a business or lay out detailed plans, as they aren’t often the keepers of the status quo. That’s why you never see an advert for McDonalds that says “We’re looking for branch leaders”. It will always be branch managers. Because managers are great at planning, delivering measurable results and foreseeing risks.
Let me explain some of the distinctions for these roles, which will help reveal the level of collaboration between them. For instance:
Leaders convert groups into devoted fans or contributors, whereas managers are great at creating, maintaining, and running systems that help those contributors or community members function in unity.
Leaders can draft visions, but it’s the manager’s hands-on approach play a crucial role in turning that vision into reality.
Managers deliver results, while leaders trigger a sense of discovery, exploration, invention in the company.
Leaders flourish in turmoil, and for that reason they can also create turmoil, whereas managers are often maintain a more balanced role.
Managers often exclude their emotions when making choices, whereas leaders remain emotionally engaged.
I see leadership like flying a spaceship into the unknown, whereas management is like staying on Earth to make sure the mission is running smoothly. That’s why both traits are crucial for a company’s success. They create impact together.
Unfortunately, nowadays, we often focus on delivering rather than discovering, which means the world needs more leaders. It is the leaders who craft large visions and attract like-minded people to work for, contribute to, or support those vision — which is how communities are born.
That’s interesting, so the leader is dependent on a sort of infrastructure, or a willing public. That is to say, you can’t have a leader in a room by himself.
Yes, who would he be leading? A leader is always dependent on the community. Communities, unlike crowds of people, interact with one another, and help proliferate the message of the leader. A good leader’s job is not to to manage other people, but to create the space for the community to flourish. A great leader, however, creates more leaders. It may sound unintuitive, or like a potential war of egos, but that only happens when leaders stand out to get attention. A true leader stands out to inspire, to offer hope or to lead towards a new direction.
True leadership is not concerned with receiving admiration, it’s about delivering service: what you can do for others, how you can solve a major problem in the lives of others.
It sounds like a leader has to be quite charismatic to get all these people to rally and come together.
I think that’s a misconception: you don’t need charisma to become a leader. I believe that being a leader makes you charismatic, simply because you have the guts to stand up and step ahead.
What’s your advice to startup owners who need to occupy the role of both leader and manager?
If you fall into this category, I’d suggest to have certain days for leadership tasks and certain days for management tasks. Maybe you could designate Mondays and Tuesdays for the big vision, leadership and the community building, and Wednesdays to Fridays for the daily business tasks that somebody has to deal with. This will also give you the opportunity to discover which one you enjoy more and which one you feel the most natural with, as it is major a mental and emotional shift.
As a manager, you need sharp focus, a hands-on approach to get things done, the ability to zoom in and out as needed, and a willingness to support different systems and departments. Whereas as a leader, you have to have that emotional charge, which is already in you, and learn how to channel it so that you can create a community of inspired people, express your vision, and create the impact you’re born to create.
If you’re interested in learning more about how to define your vision and bring out your inner leader, be sure to attend one of Ela’s workshops.
