Leadership or Management?

There's a lot of talk about leaders vs managers. If you read all those aticles by leadership gurus, you might think "manager" is a bad word!

Here's my take on this. The higher up the corporate ladder you go, the less hands-on managing you're expected to do. So senior executives, for example, serve their companies best by shaping missions and leading people towards the big picture goals.

If you're still in the early stages of your management career, however, your focus needs to be different. The goals of your department will be more tightly focused, and you'll need to plan and monitor the people and processes needed to attain them. That's not leadership—that's management. It's an honorable pursuit, and without those who do it well, those at the top would have nobody to lead.