.and memes like this one.
Bosses are autocratic and mean. Leaders are motivating and inspiring. And in many cases, this is in fact true.
Do they always go in different directions?
What I would like to know though, is how many of the people that hold this principle as gospel have even been in the bosses shoes? How many of them have lived through managing upwards of 30-60 members of staff, or more- with impossible demands coming down the chain of command from head office? How many of them are newly minted entrepreneurs, trying to find bright, diligent staff, that will work as hard as they do to build their business?
As the memes suggest, once you are a leader, the staff will be motivated and happy, with the best interests of the business at heart. And if you are a boss, the opposite will hold true.
Sometimes the leader has to stay on top the mission, so that she can keep the Vision in sight.
You may find that the leader you place on that pedestal, out of necessity, has to be a boss as well at times.
I once knew of a CEO with amazing charisma. Wonderful personality. He attracted staff and clients alike. People wanted to work for him, and clients wanted to be represented by his business. An instantly likable guy, he hit all the leader notes on the surface.
But he was a horrible leader.
I knew another CEO who was very inconspicuous and unassuming. In fact, unless you were told, one would not have known that she was 'in charge'. This person was considered to be very introverted. She was continually focused on service delivery. And managing performance. And separating poor performers.
And this person was a very good leader.
In the first example, the CEO was able to use his charm to manipulate people into action. The second, got great performance by focusing on performance. Employees had a love/hate relationship with the first. They disliked the second- but respected her.
A lot of this is about personality and biases that we bring to the table.
No leader can motivate and inspire a person who does not want to be motivated or inspired. A good leader will know when to weed them out. And leaders are people too- they are fallible and make mistakes. Some of the most despicable political leaders of our time were also be considered good leaders. They did inspire fear in many. But they also inspired love and the admiration of many others, even after death.
We do need to separate the emotion out of this argument.
In my opinion, it is more important for a leader to have emotional intelligence- to know when to be the 'big bad wolf' and when to be a meme inducing angel. A leader needs to know when when an employee or customer is operating 'below the line', and needs to be decisive when it matters.
It is the leader's high performance that inspires high performance in others.
A leader does not always have to be collaborative and inclusive. Sometimes he or she has to lay down the law and push to get it done. And they do this by stepping into manager mode. It isn't necessary to stay there long, but sometimes the situation warrants it.
I do feel sorry for the manager/boss type. Current management jargon is totally against command and control. But there was a time that it was 'the way to do things.' Times have changed, and some of them have not. More importantly, the demands of the shareholders hasn't. Profits have to go up every quarter. Costs have be be reduced in every cycle. Its becoming harder and harder to innovate with so much competition from so many quarters.
And as for the leader, inspiration is a lot more than just personality. Its about going in when angels fear to tread. Then coming back to lead the troops in. It is about believing in your good or service above and beyond the profit margin. It's about believing in improving the human condition, and seeing your business as a channel to do just that. Its about being autocratic when you need to, and diplomatic when it matters.
Its not about one versus the other. Its about knowing when the jump the fence- and when to jump back.
Jeremy was last seen removing his leader persona and becoming a manager to deal with a late-paying client.