Richard Kerr of United Technologies Corporation explains the difference between leadership and management: "Leaders clearly know that people don't want to be managed, they want to be led. Whoever heard of a 'world manager'? 'World leader'? Yes. Educational leaders, political leaders, religious leaders, Scout leaders, community leaders, labor leaders, business leaders - they lead, they don't manage. The carrot always wins over the stick. Ask the horse. You can lead your horse to water, but you can't manage him to drink. If you want to manage somebody, manage yourself. Do that well and you'll be ready to stop managing and start leading. After all, if you can't manage yourself, how can you legitimately expect to manage others?"
The manager must understand that a superb leader is far more likely to be loved than is an outstanding manager. One deals with his people daily; on the other hand, the leader will have several managers and will deal with the manager's people only indirectly and seldom. For that reason, managers must have thicker skins and learn not to take things personally.
The leader dreams the dream and sets the direction of the company, but it's the manager's responsibility to produce the results. Managing is an "all-the-time thing," while the leader stands aside and encourages his manager who directs his people. The leader and manager must communicate effectively and regularly so all the people understand the support each supplies to the other.
Peter Drucker said that the secret of management is never to make a decision which ordinary people can't carry out. General Norman Schwarzkopf says, "The leader lays out the concept but he lets the people execute it. Yes, the leader is responsible for putting the right people in place, but then he steps back and allows the people to do their work."
That's leadership. Think about it; adopt that as a principle and I'll SEE YOU AT THE TOP!
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