Leadership versus Management and Their Difference

There are endless reads on leadership versus management and their differences. Most references are too technical. They focus on duties, tasks and attributes.

For example, in Professor Robert Sutton’s post, “True Leaders Are Also Managers,” Sutton focuses on these three things. He is silent on three others though. It is these three that help us see this debate in terms of relationships.

Difference in Affect

First, leadership is an affect. That means it is subjective. An emotion inside the follower produces an affinity for the leader. We see this in our daily experiences.

For example, consider that we manage things such as resources, investments and processes but we lead people. Do we lead money?

The difference transforms management into leadership in much the same way it transforms a house into a home. As Figure 1 shows, leadership completes management. It adds relationships to management.

Figure 1: Leadership versus Management – Home versus House

Difference in Change

The second difference is change. The word lead implies motion. Motion, moving from one point to another, implies change. Where we are now is a change from where we were.

The word manage implies the status quo. For instance, when we ask, “How are you?” and people reply, “I am managing,” this conveys “keep up.” “I am managing to keep my head above water.”

Figure 2 shows the dynamic nature of change under leadership. People lead revolutions. We do not say they are managing them. What is the secret to change though? It is relationships.

Figure 2: Leadership versus management is about the change each can bring.

Difference in Roles

A third way we can see the difference is that people can be leaders while not being managers. This can be a source of tension between managers and employees whom the group sees as leaders.

It is tension between the authority managers receive from organizations and the power leaders receive from relationships. People see what they want in their leaders. Org charts affect this little. People form the relationships they want with whom they want.

Leadership versus Management is People versus Things

In the end, we find leadership is about people. Management is about things. Without people there is no leadership. There are no leaders . . . no followers . . . no relationships.

There are always things to manage though. Just look around.