Leadership is NOT Management
Many people also confuse management with leadership. Management is not leadership.
It is important to be used by the fact that management and leadership comprise two different and distinct Worlds. What shows up, and the effective ways of being and acting, in the World of management is not the same as what shows up, and the effective ways of being and acting, in the World of leadership. Whatever difference leadership can make, and it can make a world of difference, will be hidden and unnoticed (unavailable) if one is not used by the distinction between leadership and management.
To repeat, many people also confuse management with leadership. Zaleznik (1977), followed by Kotter (1990), and Rost (1985, 1993) each emphasize the fundamental differences between management and leadership.
While management is as critical to mission success as leadership, this course is not about management; it is about being a leader, and the effective exercise of leadership as your natural self-expression.
However, this course will leave you able to determine when management is required, and when leadership is required.
If the mission can be realized in the context of the future given by the past, that is, can be realized by drawing on the past, even if for success it needs something more, or better, or different, leadership is not required to realize that mission. It will certainly require effective management, but it does not require leadership.
To summarize so far, effective leadership does not come from mere knowledge about what successful leaders do, or trying to emulate the characteristics or styles of noteworthy leaders, or from trying to remember and follow the steps, tips or techniques from books on coaching on leadership – and certainly not from merely being in a leadership position, or position of authority.
Some Surprising Examples of Being a Leader
There are instances in which you can only be effective as a leader by being a follower.
There are instances in which you can only be effective as a leader by being a bystander.
There are frequent instances in which you can only be effective as a leader by saying and doing nothing, just listening in a certain way.
References
Kotter, John. 1990. A Force For Change: How Leadership Differs From Management. New York: The Free Press.
Rost, Joseph C. 1985. “Distinguishing Leadership and Management: a New Consensus”. Paper presented at the Organizational Development Network National Conference, San Francisco, summarized on pp. 140 ff. in Rost (1993), October.
Rost, Joseph C. 1993. Leadership for the Twenty-First Century. Westport, CT: Praeger
Zaleznik, Abraham. 2009. “A Leadership State Of Mind”. The Washington Post. Accessed 20 April 2009. http://views.washingtonpost.com/leadership/panelists/2009/04/a-leadership-state-of-mind.html
Erhard, Werner and Jensen, Michael C. and Zaffron, Steve and Echeverria, Jeronima, Course Materials for: ‘Being a Leader and the Effective Exercise of Leadership: An Ontological/Phenomenological Model’ (October 4, 2022). Harvard Business School NOM Working Paper No. 09-038, Simon School Working Paper No. 08-03, Barbados Group Working Paper No. 08-02, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1263835 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1263835