The Difference Between a Manager and a Leader

700 Words3 Pages
The Difference between a manager and a leader “Leaders by their nature—and, I say, by definition—are charged with seeing what others commonly do not.”(Clawson, 2012, p.6). Leaders lead and managers manage. The very names suggest the inherent differences. Leaders lead people. They are visionaries. A leader looks at things differently than a manager. A manager will “manage people [or things] for specific result” (Colorado, 2015), where the leader is the person deciding what the end result should be, and what is the best way to get there. A good leader is not necessarily a good manager, and the same is true of a good manager not necessarily being a good leader. A leader may be great at the big picture, and seeing how things should be, but may not be good at the logistics of implementing their plan. A manager, on the other hand, may be good with managing the details of a daily operation, but not really be aware of how their department fits into the overall scheme of the company or organization. To Manage or Lead? The world needs good managers and good leaders. If I had to make a choice, in my current career path and at this current time I would prefer to be a good manager. I work as a logistics coordinator. I may deal with 300 people over the course of a day, usually via phone or email. I am good at managing them. I do not need to lead them. My reason for going through graduate school and going for my MBA is to eventually move into a management role in my company. According to The Harvard Business Review, “In order to get people to accept solutions to problems, managers need to coordinate and balance continually…managers act to limit choices.” This sounds exactly like what I do every day. I enjoy my job very much and want to be the best at it. Leadership roles in the company I work for tend to be in other departments (sales, administration, etc.)

More about The Difference Between a Manager and a Leader

Open Document