Julian Birkinshaw [Archive.org URL]

Let’s look more closely at the leadership versus management debate. […] [John] Kotter sees managers as being the ones who plan, budget, organize, and control, while leaders set direction, manage change, and motivate people. [Warren] Bennis views managers as those who promote efficiency, follow the rules, and accept the status quo, while leaders focus on challenging the rules and promoting effectiveness. Needless to say, I believe this dichotomy is inaccurate and, frankly, insulting. Why, for example, does “motivating people” lie beyond the job description of a manager? And “doing things right” versus “doing the right things” is a nice play-on-words but a rather unhelpful distinction. Surely we should all be doing both.

Now, Kotter and Bennis are smart, thoughtful people who are more right than they are wrong. And they have a logically flawless response to my critique: namely, that “leadership” and “management” are roles that the same individual can play at different times. I can put on my leader hat in the morning when speaking to my team about next year’s plans, and then in the afternoon I can put on my manager hat and work through the quarterly budget. This makes sense. But I still think the aggrandizement of leadership at the expense of management is unhelpful, because management—as a profession and as a concept—is vitally important to the business world. We should be looking for ways to build it up, rather than tear it down.

Here is my view on the management versus leadership debate. Leadership is a process of social influence: it is concerned with the traits, styles, and behaviors of individuals that cause others to follow them. Management is the act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals.

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