Leaders are Managers but Managers are not necessarily Leaders

Leader definition

A leader is a person who holds a dominant position in a given field and has the ability to influence a group of people towards achievement of objectives.

“The process of leadership, whereby an individual influences a group of individuals to achieve a common goal” (Rost, 1991).

Manager definition

A manager is someone who is in-charge of the organization and has a group of subordinates who reports to him about the day to day operations.

"The management is the process of working with and through others to achieve organizational objectives" (Gilley, 2005).

   

Leader vs Manager

Managers frequently depend on implementing procedures and they are executors of policies to interconnect employees to produce best outcome, meanwhile leaders are visionaries, who can inspire people or a group of people to achieve a common goal with the cooperation of all members in a team.

 

Figure 1: Leader vs Manager

All managers are not good leaders. Leadership carries vision along with the skill to motivate people to claim a superior achievement, but management sets operation procedures to bring the vision to reality. Hence, to implement policies managers need a vision from a leader.

Differences between Manager and Leader based on similar goals

Manager will count value, which means he will measure the value created by the employee by asking reports. This action can actually discourage the value-adding employees. In contrast, leaders will always involve in creating value. Moreover, managers have subordinates who are compelled to work under him and the flow of communication is one way, while leaders have followers where the flow of information is two-way. A manager controls a group to complete the goals. However, leaders will influence others to contribute to achieve the success (Daily mirror, 2017).

When considering the real world scenario, we can name many leaders at a glance.For example, Barack Obama, Mahatma Gandhi and Richard Branson are well known famous leaders with proven managerial skills. But, it is quiet difficult to point out successful managers without any leadership quality. So, it clearly proves that leaders are managers but all managers are not necessarily leaders.

Reference

Gilley, A. (2005). The Manager as Change Leader. (J. W. Gilley, Ed.) Westport, Connecticut, United States of America: Praeger.

Rost, J. C. (1991). Leadership for the Twenty First Century. Westport, Connecticut, United States of America: Praeger.

Daily mirror. (2017, April 24). Home/ Columns. Retrieved August 08, 2019, from Daily mirror: http://www.dailymirror.lk/print/columns/Understanding-people-will-help-you-make-the-shift-from-managing-to-leading-a-business/235-127643