Wisdom from Ghana

Max Vardon from Ghana wrote me a response to my recent post on Leaders vs Managers that he has allowed me to share with you.

"The difference to me is primarily and simply one of temporal orientation.

The Leader is future-oriented, mapping out a (generally) long-term direction for hir (his/her) team or tribe, and often has abundant personal charisma that inspires hir followers. Typically the effective leader will delegate important (process) components in order to remain free to envision the next stage, whilst reserving the option to lead by example. Essentially too, the notion of 'followers' implies a voluntary, concious and active common alignment of values and/or purpose.

The Manager conversely tends to be focussed on achieving a set (of) goal(s) in the present / here-and-now and typically mobilises resources and motivates hir team towards the target (typically shorter-term) objective(s). The often-expressed need for team-building highlights the initial absence of shared values and objectives common amongst followers.

A Boss on the other hand may be a manager with a 'command and control' mindset as opposed to one with a more participative style.

Of course successful leaders will embody management skills to some extent, as will successful managers also display some degree of leadership abilities but I would submit that if you have to motivate, then you're not leading......!"

vía Maeda's SIMPLICITY