Leadership vs. Management

Leadership vs. Management? Wait, aren’t they the same thing? Ohhh wait… wow yeah, they aren’t.

So yesterday my mentors finally took off the training wheels and let me lead my first staff meeting. I was so ready. I had a well-organized agenda and a great outfit. Not to mention a ton of confidence. There’s no way this couldn’t go perfectly…

Well… let’s just say it did not go perfectly. I was behind schedule, letting other people talk too much, getting too off-track, and completely losing my focus. How is this possible??? Practically since birth, people have been telling me what a great leader I am. A natural-born leader. Great leadership qualities. Great potential as a leader. Most likely to lead a company. And so far, I have been a damn good leader. So why am I having so much trouble managing?? It came up in a discussion the other day that leadership and management are two very different things.

In my mind, leadership comes naturally. People want to listen to you and follow your lead. They respect you. Management, on the other hand, is given. Yes, you earn the title of manager, but someone else deems you suitable for the position. You have deadlines and initiatives and contingencies and so on. I now realize that my great leadership ability does not make me a good manager. This is something I’m actually going to have to work at. Rather than reading things that reaffirm that which I already knew, I’m going to be forced to read to learn something. Dang.

So how do I apply my talent as a leader to the role of a manager? I found this post about leading in 2010 from LeadershipNow. It discusses three main things great leaders do successfully:

1. They act and think systematically
2. They see people as the route to performance
3. They are self-confident without being arrogant

After initially glancing at those items, I thought to myself: Why yes, I do all of those things…yet I am still failing. However, I failed to see the less attractive side of those items as they applied to my own talents:

1. I act and think systtematically…when I’m strategizing by myself. When I get around other people, I spend so much time listening to whatever they say and considering the hell out of their points that I lose track of where we should be going. I feel that as a manager, you must always keep an eye on the path ahead, while still engaging your employees in the present.
2. I do see people as the route to performance…but I don’t always communicate with them and get their opinion. I feel like the manager should be a chess player, and the employees his chess pieces. But not regular sized pieces. Rather, the lifesize chess games that you see in Mexican resorts. I, on the other hand, play with a regular chess set. I will use them without regard to their own magnitude as individuals. That sounds so awful now that I am reading it. Well, poor me.
3. I am self-confident…maybe without being arrogant? I have a hell of a lot of confidence, but I am always willing to question whether or not my theories or actions are the best. I love learning, and I love being taught. But who the hell was I to walk into a meeting relying only on my natural abilities and a stupid piece of paper with some items on it?? Looking back, I should have started looking at the characteristics of a great board meeting. How could I have applied them? I find myself immediately considering myself better than everyone until they prove otherwise. Maybe this isn’t the way to go?

For those that are constantly praised and find most “challenges” incredibly easy, realizing that you have to work at something is a hard truth to swallow. I have been pretty down on myself recently. (see last post) I hate not being good at things. I hate not being the prodigy that can do no wrong. I know I have to try at this attempt. And by god, I’m going to do it. This time next week (or next month or something) I’m going to be the best damn manager there ever was…for a person of my age and experience level, of course. I will utilize my systematic methods and self awareness to bolster myself to the managerial hall of fame.

Either that, or I will spend another day feeling like I’m worthless and don’t deserve anything and need to give up. It has yet to be determined.

What do you think about the differences of leadership vs management? Am I totally off-base? I need guidance…please feel free to provide it.