Sometimes I feel like we are beating a dead horse or perhaps a unicorn?
I just read a GREAT blog post from John Hunter of Curious Cat Management – Leadership and Management.
Having also written about my concern separating leadership from management.
- Management vs. Leadership. Like Two Unicorns Sexting
- The Manager AS Leader
- 10 Managerial Leadership Practices
- Why should anyone be led by you? That’s a dumb question.
- Charisma is NOT a replacement for Competence
- Competence + Organizational Support = Successful Teams and People
Below are some of my favorite lines from Mr. Hunters great article…I highly recommend you read the article and you look at his body of work.
A manager that is not concerned about doing the right things is a lousy manager. And a leader that doesn’t care about doing things right is a lousy leader.
It became fashionable some years ago to separate “leaders” from “managers” – you know, distinguishing those who “do the right things” from those who “do things right.” It sounds good. But think about how this separation works in practice. U.S. businesses now have too many leaders who are detached from the messy process of managing. So they don’t know what’s going on…We’re overled and under-managed.
This last quote really hits home the need for a strong competent management. Strong management is exercising leadership within your role.
With the short-term view that many companies are taking and the over-emphasis on the sole leader to save us…companies are being overled and under-managed.
What do you think?
If you still insist on separating management from leadership – let me know how you find it useful?