CORPORATE | Managers and Leaders: Are They Different

Managers and Leaders: Are They Different

Two conflicting needs: 1. Managers to maintain the balance of operations 2. Leaders to create new approaches and imagine new areas to explore Because leaders and managers are basically different types of people, the conditions favorable to the growth of one may be inimical to the other. Leadership Inevitably requires using power to influence the thoughts and actions of other people. Power In the hands of an individual entails human risks 1. The risk of equating power with the ability to get immediate results 2. The risk of ignoring the many different ways people can legitimately accumulate power 3. The risk of losing self-control in the desire for power Collective leadership Managerial ethic Inherent Conservatism An organization is a system, with a logic of its own, and all the weight of tradition and inertia. The deck is stacked in favor of the tried and proven way of doing things and against the taking of risks and striking out in new directions.