Question

1. Explain the differences between Managers and Leaders

2. What decisions do Managers have to make that are different than Leaders?

3. What advice did you retain and learn from Seth Godin?

Answer 1

1. Stephen Covey defines leadership as the ability to put first things first and management as a discipline to carry out the act. Managers and leaders have a lot of differences: Few of the major differences are as follows:
   • Managers focus on the present while a leader focus on future
   • Managers prefer a stable environment while leaders try to bring about a change
   • A leader often delegates activities while a manager prefers to have more control
   • The leader sets the direction and encourages others to follow a vision while the manager plans every activity in detail and ensures others follow it
   • Leaders have a transformational approach while guiding team while managers tend to follow a transactional one
   • Managers focus more on process and procedure while leaders focus on people
   • Managers always focus on the short term result while leaders try to promote growth and development

These differences show that there are various aspects that are fundamentally different in both cases. Both can co-exist in an environment and both of them are essential to the short and long term success of the firm.

2. Managers often tend to look at activities from a result-oriented point of view. All actions and decisions they take are often aligned to the short term objectives of the firm. They are guided and trained to ensure these objectives are met. On the other hand, leaders look at the long term vision of the firm. They are not bothered by the short term changes in results but rather focus on the improvement that has been achieved. The decisions taken by both these sets are often different. In a team, the manager will often look for subordinates who fully agree with their ideologies and plans and they would often force others to follow them. Meanwhile, a leader would try to identify the competency that each member has and tries to develop them rather than making them follow their approach. This provides an entirely different viewpoint for the employee. For achieving the short term goals, there should always be someone who guides, monitors and supports the team. Such decisions are often taken by managers. Leaders provide the vision and support to remove obstacles to achieve that vision. Their decisions are often applicable to the entire firm rather than a team while a manager`s decisions are limited to the team. In addition to this, a manager takes a decision based on the limited information they have trying to achieve the short term goal while the leader uses intuition and experience to decide the long term goals.
3. Seth Godin is an American author who promotes new approaches to marketing and business. Seth has been a promoter of new-age thinking and often encourages others to follow the changes that are occurring in the industry. One point in Seth`s blog sums up his approach to writing. He suggests that the main responsibility of leaders is to create conditions where people can choose new actions rather than forcing them to make a change. People cannot be changed by force but by creating an environment for change, you give them a chance and opportunity to do so. He often promotes and advises others to look at everyday problems through different mindsets. There are a lot of aspects that one can learn from Seth Godin. But the approach he has to all challenges and the manner in which he uses everyday scenarios to show the difference one can make is the key takeaway.