I believe leadership lies more in character than in technical competence, but these two are interwoven. As people grow in competence, they gain awareness of a new dimension of their character. Then, as they begin to develop that aspect of their character, they find that their competence also increases – Stephen R. Covey
When is a manager not a leader? When is a leader not a manager?
A leader is an individual recognized by others as a person to lead an effort.
A manager is an individual who manages and is responsible for resources.
A manager is granted authority from above, whereas a leader’s role is earned by having followers.
Leadership focuses on doing the right things; management focuses on doing things right.
According to Deming, “The top job of management is not supervision, but leadership.” The roles of leader and manager can be fulfilled by the same individual. It’s really what the individual does, how he or she does it, and from where the individual derives the power to act that relate to which term is most applicable in a given situation.
Effective leadership creates a unity of purpose and direction. Strong direction ensures all activities within the organization are aligned to strategies, polices and processes to collectively achieve planned objectives.
Effective strategy execution starts with focus.
Why do almost all leaders struggle to narrow their focus? It’s not because they don’t think focus is needed, it is because smart, ambitious leaders don’t want to do less, they want to do more, even when they know better that there will always be good ideas than their team’s capacity to execute. Isn’t it really difficult for great leaders to say no to a good idea, much less a great one?
Focus is a natural principle. The sun’s scattered rays are too weak to start a fire, but once you focus them with a magnifying glass, they will bring paper to flame in seconds. The same is true of human beings-once their collective energy is focused on a challenge, there is little they can’t accomplish.
If you’re currently trying to execute five, ten, or even twenty important goals, the truth is that your team can’t focus. This lack of focus magnifies the intensity of the whirlwind, dilutes your efforts, and makes success almost impossible.
This is especially problematic when there are too many goals at the highest levels of the organization, all of which eventually cascade into dozens and ultimately hundreds of goals as they work their way down throughout the organization, creating a web of complexity.
However, when you narrow the focus of your team to one or two extremely important goals, the team can easily distinguish between what is truly a top priority and what is the whirlwind. They move from a loosely defined and difficult-to-communicate collection of objectives to a small, focused set of achievable targets.
Basically, the more you try to do, the less you actually accomplish.
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