Leading or Managing: Discover Your Strengths

Imagine walking into a room where the atmosphere is filled with lively energy. On one side, there is a manager who meticulously organizes, plans, and ensures that every single detail is in order. On the other side, a leader who motivates, influences, and inspires the team for a shared vision. Both roles are important, but they require different approaches and skill sets. 

John Kotter, The Konosuke Matsushita Professor of Leadership, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School and a graduate of MIT and Harvard is widely regarded for his research on leadership, management, and change. According to his work, management is about coping with complexity (e.g., planning, budgeting, organizing), while leadership is about coping with change (e.g., setting direction, aligning people, motivating). In a world where people aspire to be considered a leader or step into leadership roles, I think it’s important to ask yourself where your own strengths are. Here are a few questions for you to reflect on:

· Do you naturally focus on creating a vision for the future, or do you excel at organizing and planning the details to achieve set goals?

· How do you react when faced with significant changes or disruptions?

· Are you more likely to embrace and drive change, or do you prefer to minimize risks and establish order?

One reason why leadership is highly important and why companies and organizations emphasize the need for it is because of the current landscape of our ever-changing world. We are living at a fast pace; the amount of information at our fingertips can be somewhat overwhelming at times. There are technological advancements, fluctuating markets, and changing demographics that organizations need assistance with. Great leaders have the ability to cope during change, while also respecting and understanding the complexities of the human experience. Nevertheless, many individuals possess qualities of both effective leaders and managers, and they are able to utilize different strengths depending on the situation.

When thinking about best practices, or how to build great teams of people, my suggestion is to seek out people that have potential in leadership but also have strong management skills. At their core, people that care about other people, with values and standards. What does your dream team look like? While you think about this, imagine how your ultimate group would deal with defeats as well as victories along the way.