Leadership and management have differences as well as similarities. Among differences, for example, leaders typically focus on long-term concerns and motivating people, while managers focus on short-term challenges and the allocation of resources to make an organization effective. John Kotter, in one of the readings matched with the lecture, highlights key differences between leaders who must “cope with change” and managers who “cope with complexity.” However, there is often an overlap between the work of leaders and managers. The readings by John Gardner and Shamas-Ur-Rehman Toor describe this overlap in various ways. Rather than a dichotomy between leadership and management, a better conceptualization is a continuum in which different organizational positions, and even the same position at different times, can entail different combinations of leadership and management skills and practices. This gives rise to the term leader-manager, which Professor Dukakis and I use in our book. Successful leader-managers demonstrate a set of common skills and practices that will be the focus of attention in subsequent modules.

Are you more comfortable as a leader or a manager (or some combination)?  Which do you prefer?