The question is to you. Are you a leader or a manager?
Are you on top of your game by making sure that your team delivers on all the expectations?
Are you having your team under a microscope to see patterns of their delivery?
Are you keeping work on track and making things happen?
If you are doing all these, congratulations, you are manager. You are one among millions who are managing activities around the globe. In fact, every McD store or any janitorial services company hire managers who take care of deliverables and they are doing a wonderful job at it.
We don’t have any shortage of managers. They are everywhere. In fact, they don’t go to any managerial school to become managers, they just rise up the ranks and are called managers based on their seniority.
What we need is leaders. Managers are OK but leaders are definitely the ones to go after. Companies have realized it and are grabbing onto any leadership quality they see in a person by offering plum posts and fat paychecks.
Managers and leaders are not the same. I repeat, managers are a different category and leaders are entirely in a different plane. Don’t assume all managers are leaders, because they simply aren’t.
Leaders don’t worry about their teams delivering. They don’t care what people do in their free times. They rarely micro-manage.
Leaders instead motivate their employees. They imbibe the power in their employees to see themselves as owners of whatever they are responsible for.
Leaders inspire others to become leaders.
Leadership is a type of evangelism that doesn’t stop with position or rank.
Leaders are not in competition with other leaders, they in fact grow stronger when they collaborate. They are like Captain Planet (who evolves from earth, fire, wind and water). They derive their sources of power from within and from others.
So, my question again.
Are you a leader or a manager?