Managers or leaders? Be both

Ever heard of the common debate between leaders and managers? While the two roles require different skillsets, it’s important that as executives, we can utilize both as we lead those in our organizations.

In a recent Harvard Business Review article, author James R. Bailey uncovers that rather than debating “leaders” vs. “managers,” people should focus on the idea that people need both leading and managing skill sets in their work, and the best executives balance the two skills.

Bailey emphasizes the importance of using leadership skills to provide teams with direction and using management skills to keep teams on course. To clarify the difference, Bailey asked over 1,000 C-Suite executives from 17 countries to answer the analogy, “Leadership is to ____ as management is to ____.”

Some of my favorite analogies include:

 

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