“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things” – Peter Drucker

Leadership and management are often mistaken as the same thing, but they are quite different in nature. The key distinction between the two is that leaders have people who devote them, whereas managers have people that simply work for them.

Leader is a person who demonstrates the ability of leadership. On the other hand, Management is a discipline, and the practitioner of this discipline is known as the MANAGER.

Leaders have positive attitude, are consistently optimistic and emphasize on ensuring that the people around them are recognized and embrace the dream. Managers tend to have a goal and drive people to either agree or disagree.

A leader aligns everyday tasks with great goals, thinks of people as people, receives respect from the team, and is delighted when team members accomplish great things. A leader empowers people with dignity and integrity. A manager focuses only on the short-term, sees people as only titles or resources. A manager wants to merely accomplish tasks and is more concerned with process.

A leader inspires his subordinate to accomplish a defined vision, has the quality of business acumen, and promotes it by empowering subordinates. While a manager is a person who, with his intellect, handles the entire organization and plans to execute every function.

Transactional leadership styles are used by the manager. Whereas the leader uses a transformational leadership approach. Leaders advocate transition, but managers adapt to the transition. A leader aligns people, a leader organizes people. A leader looks for the right decisions to be done, the manager tries to do the right things.

The leader focuses on persons while the process and procedure are focused on by a manager. A leader reflects on the success and growth of his teammates, while a manager strives to achieve the results.

Managers set priorities, but the vision is set by leaders. It is the role of the leader to translate the dream into reality. Beyond what people are capable of, leaders dream and strive to make everyone part of something greater. Managers think in the short term, but leaders think in the long run.

Leaders look at the bigger picture and dream of the next step to set the course for the greater vision. Leaders are creative and can foster progress in an organization. They always look for new means of improving a business’s operations.

Leaders love to be challenged and constantly step out of the comfort zone!

Key takeaways:

• Managers have subordinates, leaders have followers
• Leaders create a vision, managers create goals
• Leaders are change agents; managers maintain the status quo
• Leaders are unique, managers copy
• Leaders take risks, managers control risk
• Leaders are in it for the long haul, managers think short-term
• Leaders grow personally, managers rely on existing, proven skills
• Leaders build relationships, managers build systems and processes
• Leaders create fans, managers have employees.