A511.1.5.RB Leadership Reflection

The discussion of the intersection between leadership and management is one worth having. I argue that one cannot have one without the other. The two are not the same in that managers tend to deal with more work-a-day issues such as scheduling, conflict resolution, and other such tasks while leaders deal with more strategic vision and long-term goals and plans. I think in order to be a good manager one must be a good leader. Leadership, as a concept, has never been empirically defined. If that were the case there wouldn't be entire academic bodies of work all attempting to define leadership with no two agreeing with each other. This is all well and good, leadership is as much art as science and a guy can go nuts trying to pin down Dali's "Persistence of Time" why should leadership be any different? However, as a student of leadership I must have metrics, and terms, and things to group together and analyze. Determining between managers and leaders seems to me to separation for the sake of separation. Leaders that are poor managers never last very long. Adolf Hitler, the internet's favorite dictator, is a perfect example of a leader lacking managerial skills. On the other end of the spectrum you have managers that lack leadership skills. These rarely make it to the history books as their careers aren't noteworthy of study. I would wager that most of us have come across managers that aren't leaders. I know I've worked for a few. It is important to note that managers and leaders have different connotations but I think that they are two sides of the same coin. Leaders may inspire and motivate but they also have to manage, if only on a strategic level. I understand that there are differing schools of thought on this subject but my goal here is to reflect on my view of managers versus leaders. I prefer the view manager/leader. In this Ted Talk http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/simon_sinek_how_great_leaders_inspire_action.html the topic of Southwest Airline is discussed. One of the concepts regarding leadership was inspiring people to work even though at the outset pay at Southwest was lower than the competition. This is true, a leader needs to inspire towards a common goal and a shared vision. Here's the rub: people that can't pay their rent aren't interested in vision. People, at a certain level, take jobs because they like to eat every day. A gate agent for Southwest might receive less wages than one for Delta but it beats being homeless. As you move up the professional ladder the importance of vision and motivation becomes more important for retaining talent but once again, it only goes so far. MANAGERS understand job satisfaction relies on more than just being committed to a vision. This is why I argue you can't have one without the other and be successful. Leadership and managerial functions are intertwined. It looks great to say a leader hires managers to implement his vision, and that's true, but it takes managerial skills to manage the managers.