Management Vs Leadership

Yet leadership and management are not mutually exclusive. A good leader can be a good manager and a good manager may be a good leader. Every manager is therefore, asked to develop leadership qualities which alone can ensure the success of an organization. Peter F. Drucker, a top management guru, distinguished the leaders and managers in the following words

"Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

What are these "right" things?

While we are not sure about what is "right" but what we are sure is that leader is one who has followers. There can be no leader without followers. Thus we can perhaps conclude that people follow only those who does the "right" thing.

We all wants to be leaders as leaders are most respected in the society and they also get the best rewards. The top positions of the organizations, states and enterprises go to the leader. There is hardly any profession, where one is not expected to take the leadership role. Yet few can become leader and most people only end up being followers.

It is because most people do not know what is "right".

Managers Follow Rules

It is much easy to be a follower as you have to only to the things that are already prescribed and declared as right. If you are a policeman, you just follow the rules of the books. As a good army man, you have to just obey the orders of the boss and kill your enemies. As a good teacher, you have to just teach your student well. As a manager, you have to just to the right things.

Manager is, therefore, a follower who needs not to ponder over the question of right and wrong. He has to look into the books or to take orders from his boss and just follow what has already been defined as "right". In a way, a good manager is one who is a good follower obeying the law or the orders of

...