Management and Leadership are NOT the same

John Kotter has a point when he writes in a recent Harvard Business Review blog post, “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people use the words “leadership” and “management” synonymously, and it drives me crazy every time….the confusion around these two terms is massive, and that misunderstanding gets in the way of any reasonable discussion about how to build a company, position it for success, and win in the twenty-first century. The mistakes people make on the issue are threefold:

“Mistake #1: People use the terms “management” and “leadership” interchangeably. This shows that they don’t see the crucial difference between the two and the vital functions that each role plays.

“Mistake #2: People use the term “leadership” to refer to the people at the very top of hierarchies. They then call the people in the layers below them in the organization “management.” And then all the rest are workers, specialists, and individual contributors. This is also a mistake and very misleading.

“Mistake #3: People often think of “leadership” in terms of personality characteristics, usually as something they call charisma. Since few people have great charisma, this leads logically to the conclusion that few people can provide leadership, which gets us into increasing trouble.”

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So, the question is: Are you a better leader or manager? Click on the image below to take our short quiz.

Are you surprised by the outcome? Do you have a natural tendency toward one? Tweet us your response @Linkageinc.