(contemplation from the 2024 college leadership program)
Leadership and management are fundamentally different skills and have different requirements for success. Whereas leadership empowers people, management controls and manipulates processes and components of systems. Leadership seeks the growth of the individual while management seeks the stability of the institution. Both are required within successful organizations, but when conflated into undefined roles mislabeled as leadership, discord and disfunction frequently result.
Seth Godin describes the development of management through the lens of Henry Ford’s automation. Ford was able to provide specific tasks to workers and increase compensation 10-fold. “As long as we get the system working efficiently, we’re fine.”[i] Good management provides for system-enhancing innovations. These can benefit people, but the focus is on the system, not the people who are cogs or the products it creates. Good management leads to efficiency of scale and big factories where people are doing what they’re told are more efficient than small factories. Management thus leads to systematic prosperity. However, the remainder of Godin’s presentation describes the inevitable failure of managed systems because “When the world changes, management always fails because we don’t understand how to go forward.”[ii] Management gets the trains to their destination on time with maximum capacity, but doesn’t differentiate between the destinations of Leipzig or Treblinka.
Conversely, leadership is focused on people, not systems. “The real job of a leader is not about being in charge. It’s about taking care of those in our charge.”[iii] Whereas management absolves individuals of personal responsibility, placing the outcomes on the system, leadership focuses on personal interactions and empowerment of others. Bob Davids uses a chain to demonstrate leadership. If pushed, it will move uncontrollably and without utility. However, if led it can act predictably and usefully.[iv] One way to understand leadership is to understand what it is not. Martin Gutmann relates the accounts of Artic explorers, Ernest Shackelton and Roald Amundson. Shackelton, failed in all three attempts and led to many deaths, while Amundson was successful. However, Gutmann notes that the propensity of books on leadership focus on the traits of Shackelton.[v] Shackelton’s story is dramatic and heroic. His escape from the jaws of death is inspirational, while Amundson’s conscientiousness makes for a boring story. Gutmann’s point is that leadership is often mistaken for inspiration, when it is really about achieving the safety and benefits of those you lead, not excitement or personal glory.
Peter Anderton describes the first rule of leadership by citing Lao Tsu who believed that “The leader is best when people barely knew he existed; that when his job was done, his aims fulfilled the people would say, ‘We did it ourselves’.”[vi] The first rule of leadership is that it’s not about you. Leadership is not a list of accomplishments or the ability to manipulate others. “If any would be great amongst you, let him be your servant.” Thus, leadership is not about dominion, but service. An open-door policy is a false indicator of leadership. It signals a hierarchy of power that may be appropriate for a manager but denotes a poor leader. Rather, a leader should meet people where they are. A leader is a shepherd amongst his flock, not a cowboy on his horse. Competent leaders should know those they lead and know them in their own spaces. Leaders focus on the welfare of others, not themselves. They hold councils instead of courts, and ideas are shared, not owned. Rule number one: leadership is not about you.
Anderton’s second rule of leadership seems contradictory to the first; “It’s only about you.”[vii] He relates Maxwell’s five levels of leadership with position as the basest model. People do what they’re told because they are coerced. Attendance will be taken, and punishments handed out for absences. A bit higher on the leadership ladder is permission where people allow you to act as leader based on a relationship of respect. This requires taking the time to know and interact with those you lead. Beyond permission is a commitment to fulfilling the task; a dedication to the desired outcome that Maxwell terms production. People buy into the goal. The penultimate level of leadership is people development, with the goal of reproducing leaders. We want replicas of ourselves to be our legacy. The highest level of leadership is the pinnacle and is the crux of the second rule. Maxwell describes these leaders in the following: “People follow them because of who they are and what they represent. In other words, their leadership gains a positive reputation. As a result, Level 5 leaders often transcend their position, their organization, and sometimes their industry.”[viii] Leadership is intrinsically about the ability to control ego. “Power comes when the people that you are leading give you their support…. If you take that power and deflect all of it back to them, then they give you more. Then if you give more back to them in the second wave, they give you even more. But if you start to take some of that power, they start giving you less.”[ix]
Leadership is not a list of positions, although positions can increase the leader’s scope. Leadership is a belief in the potential of those you lead and an authentic desire to enable their successes. Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic describes how we may overestimate our leadership abilities. We mistake confident leadership for competent leadership.[x] We wrongly think that leadership begets leadership. As I consider the principles of leadership, I am reminded that positions, both attained and unattained in life, have undoubtedly facilitated introspection and hopefully helped me become more empathetic, compassionate, and a better leader.
[i] “Seth Godin – Leadership vs. Management – What it means to make a difference” (2:25)
[iii] “Most Leaders Don’t Even Know the Game They’re In | Simon Sinek” (1:35)
[iv] “The rarest commodity is leadership without ego: Bob Davids at TEDxESCP” (5:59)
[v] “Why do we celebrate incompetent leaders? | Martin Gutmann | TEDxBerlin” (2:45)
[vi] “Great leadership comes down to only two rules | Peter Anderton | TEDxDerby” (3:59)
[x] “Why do so many incompetent men become leaders? | Tomas Chamorro-Premuzic | TEDxUniversityofNevada”, (2:40)