Management vs.
Leadership
Why you need both
to run a successful business
Jennifer Dye, MBA
Certified Business Advisor

Definitions

Management vs. Leadership –
5 key differences
• Mission
• Self-Awareness
• Risk and Trust
• Two-Way Learning
• Find your Voice and Speak your Truth

Mission
Management
• Run the apparatus
• Clear inputs and outputs
• Expected results
• People are interchangeable
Leadership
• The machine is changeable
• Employees design their own jobs
• Explore connections between the
company mission and each
worker’s personal mission
• The energy of the team is critical
and depends on each person’s
unique contributions

Self-Awareness
Management
• Command and Control style
• Authoritarian
• Use Fear and Intimidation
• Often emotional in their response
to criticism or questioning
• Focused on end result over
process
Leadership
• Leaders are aware of their behavior
and monitor their emotions
• They are confident and lead
through trust
• They don’t second-guess themselves
of their team members
• They know they are not always
right

Risk and Trust
Management
• By virtue of power or position,
the manager has all the authority
• There is no risk, because there is
not a choice
• Circle of Power
Leadership
• Leaders rely on trust because
their team members choose to
follow them
• There is risk because you may be
trusting the wrong person
• Circle of Influence

Two-Way Learning
Management
• Dictatorial – rarely results in
learning because mistakes are not
often made without risk and trust
• Manage the Work – not the
people, so learning is minimized
• Managers count value, outcomes,
production
Leadership
• Trust allows risk which will
occasionally result in failure
• Failure is how we learn and how
we innovate
• Leaders Create Value over and
above what the team produces

Find your Voice and Speak your Truth
Management
• Managers have managers
• There are rules and procedures
• Processes don’t allow for
individual growth
Leadership
• Leaders have to have the tough
conversations
• Leaders learn to solve adaptive
challenges
• Leaders challenge the status quo

Can you be both a good manager and a
great leader?
• The main difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have
people follow them while managers have people who work for them.
• A successful business owner needs to be both a strong leader and
manager to get their team on board to follow them towards their vision
of success.
• Leadership is about getting people to understand and believe in your
vision and to work with you to achieve your goals while managing is
more about administering and making sure the day-to-day things are
happening as they should.

Key Traits of Strong Managers
• Being Able to Execute a Vision: take a strategic vision and break it down
into a roadmap to be followed by the team
• Ability to Direct: day-to-day work efforts, review resources needed and
anticipate needs along the way
• Process Management: establish work rules, processes, standards and
operating procedures
• People Focused: look after your people, their needs, listen to them and
involve them

Key Characteristics of Leaders:
• Honesty & Integrity: are crucial to get your people to believe you and
buy in to the journey you are taking them on
• Vision: know where you are, where you want to go and enroll your team
in charting a path for the future
• Inspiration: inspire your team to be all they can by making sure they
understand their role in the bigger picture
• Ability to Challenge: do not be afraid to challenge the status quo, do
things differently and have the courage to think outside the box
• Communication Skills: keep your team informed of the journey, where
you are, where you are heading and share any roadblocks you may
encounter along the way

Case Study One
Your employee is uncooperative and not following your instructions.
List out the steps you would take to rectify the situation.
Then, in your groups discuss whether these are management tasks,
leadership directives, or both.

Case Study Two
You find out from a customer that a vendor is
bad-mouthing you and sharing privileged
information about your business operations.
How will you approach this vendor?
What are the long-range consequences?
How will you discuss this with your customer?
Once you have identified the steps, determine
whether you are acting as a manager or a leader.

Case Study Three
You’ve been asked to speak about your business at a local high school. You
are extremely busy and these are not your target customers. Do you
accept?
What are the possible risks?
What are the possible benefits?
Do your roles as a manager and a leader conflict? How do you resolve it?

References:
Management vs. Leadership: Five Ways they are different – Liz Ryan
https://www.forbes.com/sites/lizryan/2016/03/27/management-vs-leadership-five-
ways-they-are-different/2/#2ba58e4b6dce
Understanding the Differences: Leadership vs. Management – Vineet Navar
https://www.go2hr.ca/articles/understanding-differences-leadership-vs-
management
Three Differences Between Managers and Leaders – Harvard Business Review
https://hbr.org/2013/08/tests-of-a-leadership-transiti