Orchestration - Leaders vs Managers

Aaron Tang over @ DesignVerb points to a great article and accompanying graphic @PoetPainter exploring the differences between leaders and managers. While each has their own style, and purpose it goes to show the value of extrinsic vs intrinsic motivation.

Its a quick and concise exploration on why being a leader involves doing the correct things while a management centers more around doing things correctly. It also smartly explores that that being a leader involves creating a different type of environment, where one can rally and reach for a commonality instead of personal goals. It keeps running through my head how applicable this is to advertising and why some shops seem to fail so miserably despite oodles of talent.

I do tend to think though that everyone is required to do a bit of both managing and leading, when the time calls for it. Being aligned on objectives really shouldnt be an issue, or one shouldnt be in a leader/manager position in the first place.

Another rightly said point is that "much of what managers do is unnecessary when you have the right people. With the right people, self-management takes over for you. A good manager can accomplish only what has been defined and documented for him or her, yet a good leader constantly questions why things are done the way they are and is able to recognize the value and potential of doing things differently."

Next up its going to explore the qualities of a good leader. Should be an interesting discussion that will hopefully explore how people frame problems and objectives in the first place. Defining objectives in actionable ways should allow those providing solutions to structure deliverables that add value based on not only their leadership style but the strengths of the team as well.

PoetPainter