The Right Thing To Do

"Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things." Peter Drucker

Competent workers are often rewarded with a promotion to management. Sometimes this works and sometimes it doesn't. While they excelled in their former positions, they sink to mediocrity in supervisory roles because they lack the skills to successfully manage people.

A good manager implements company policy. She is good at building a team and building consensus. She motivates, keeps people on task, finishes on time and comes in under budget. She mediates disputes with customers and vendors and the occasional employee dispute over leftovers in the break room.

A manager should be a leader, but they are two completely different things. A leader can tell you how to do it, but mostly he leads by example. He would never expect anything from you that he wouldn't be willing to do himself. Just when your enthusiasm starts to lag, he says something simple that inspires you. He takes full responsibility when things go wrong, but never fails to give credit where credit is due. You are free to ask questions and even challenge him, and he responds with calm confidence. Then just at the time when you're wondering if he knows what he's doing, he looks at you as if to say, "trust me." And you do, because his track record speaks for itself. You fall in line behind him, following the leader.

Susan