Business Leaders vs. Managers

I have witnessed over the course of my career that many people who are responsible for a team of employees tend to manage them instead of leading them.  Without taking a deep dive into the various styles of leadership, I will explain the difference between the two.  The mindset of a manager is directing tasks, measuring kpi’s, controlling the direction, and assessing the status. Whereas the leader’s mindset is coaching his team, motivating, empowering, and listening to them in order to achieve organizational success. 

An example of this is our current president in the USA, Donald Trump.  Now I am not going to go into my political affiliation, but is president Trump leading us or simply managing the American people and government as he has managed his businesses throughout his professional career.

Mr. Trump is clearly a delegator in how he operates.  I am sure he is measuring the performance levels of his cabinet members, hopefully through some KPI’s and metrics.  But is he leading us? If you worked for Mr. Trump do you believe you would feel empowered and motivated, and believe he would listen to your input on various topics?

Try Changing Your Lens and think of it this way.. does Mr. Trump have an objective (manager) during his term as president, or does he have a vision (leader)?.  Does he identify problems and try to blame others (manager), or does he seek out opportunities and go down unchartered paths (leader).  Whatever your views are on our president is irrelevant.  Ask yourself how you conduct yourself as a manager/leader/boss.

Remember a manager controls and directs, whereas a leader influences others to follow…