Manager or Leader — What Should You Be?

Not every manager is a leader. While you may think that leadership qualities come alongside of a management role, that is far from the truth. You cannot just become a leader if you are promoted to being a manager — there is much more hard work that goes into it. But before you decide whether to become a typical manager or a unique leader, you should know the differences between the two.

Visions vs. Goals

Leaders are known to create a vision. They paint a perfect picture of the future and encourage their subordinates to work towards it. Instead of ordering people to complete their work, leaders take time in motivating and engaging employees in order to make them feel as if they are part of a team.

Managers, on the other hand, will always focus on achieving specific milestones. This may be greatly beneficial in situations where you need to get work done immediately but could also serve as a demotivating factor for certain employees.

Unique vs. Average

Leaders are always looking for the chance to differentiate themselves from the crowd. They are true to themselves and to others — making them great role models for everyone else in the organization. Leaders are also much more confident since they are self-aware and authentic.

Managers tend to blend in with the crowd. They copy the management skills they have observed in others and try to apply the same management formula to every situation. Some managers do change their style from time to time, but none of them try to develop a style of their own.

Risk vs. Safety

Leaders are known to be risky. They like to jump into new opportunities whenever they find one — especially because they do not regard failure as a negative thing. Instead, they take failure optimistically since they believe it is the only way to reach complete success.

But managers will always try to keep risk at a bare minimum. They prefer to stay within their comfort zones and tend to avoid getting into any agreements that involve risk. While this is helpful for businesses to maintain their financial security, taking a few risks once in a while does not hurt either.

Long Term vs. Short Term

Have you ever wondered why good leaders are so enthusiastic? It’s because they are thriving to achieve a big goal. As they motivate themselves to keep working efficiently, they also motivate others around them. This serves as a great method of improving employee morale, especially during times of saturation in a business.

Managers have a different perspective. They believe in focusing on short-term goals that are quick and easy to accomplish. This could also serve as a great motivator for subordinates because they are achieving milestones — but the typical manager fails to account for long-term plans for the entire organization.

What Should You Be?

Considering all the information that we provided; you have probably derived your own answer by now. The truth is that it is best to act as a manager in certain situations, but as a leader in other ones. A manager will always do the right thing, but a leader can make all things right.