Managers In Leader’s Clothing

“And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskin.” Jesus Christ

Position or title doesn’t make one a leader. That one has authority doesn’t make one a leader. There are many managers who take the title of a leader because they are part of management. Truly Human Leadership is influence that results in impact and transformation.

For a manager to become a leader, there has to be a change of mindset. No manager can be a Truly Human Leader while thinking like a leader. They may have the title of a leader, but that does make them a leader. A Truly Human Leader is a leader in heart, mind, and body.

A business starts with a leader who creates value to meet the needs of people. When the value he creates becomes acceptable to the market, he employs managers to create systems to manage the value he has created. All the managers do is maintain the value and milk it. Those managers may not know when the value is getting obsolete to create a new one; as long as they can get value from it, they keep milking and protecting it.

To maintain the value that was created by the leader, they employ more managers and create layers of bureaucracy to protect the value that has been created.

However, when they detect a sign that the value that they have been milking is no longer producing milk as they wanted, out of desperation, they call in a creativity or innovation consultant to train their people on how to create new forms of value. They lock their people up in a room, put pressure on them, and give them a dateline to produce new forms of value that they will use.

What they may not have understood is that innovation or value creation cannot be managed. You cannot put pressure on people to create value. Fear doesn’t inspire creativity. You cannot motivate people to innovate. A manager will always act as one no matter the position or title you put them. Their major role is to maintain value not to create it.

Management has controlled much of what happens in business. Every business theory and principle was developed from a management standpoint. We have more people who outwardly look like leaders but have the mindset of managers. They may use leadership terms but act more like managers. They are only leaders because they are in management positions and part of the status quo. Management worldview has become the norm in business. Even leadership is defined and taught from a management viewpoint.

How to know those who are managers:

1. Their title and position makes them leaders

2. They relate with people as functions or job descriptions

3. They are self-centered

4. They want to be served by others

5. They attract and produce more managers

Different Between Managers & Truly Human Leaders

1. Managers see people as resources to be managed; Truly Human Leaders see them as potentials to be nurtured: The whole basis of human resources is management's way of viewing people as resources to be managed. Organizations that are leadership-oriented move away from human-resources to people-centric policy. Human resources are management-oriented. Its people are being managed to make management successful. Truly Human Leaders see people as potentials to be nurtured and developed. They develop them into leaders.

2. Managers tell people what to do, Truly Human Leaders trust people to do their best: The whole purpose of the job description is to tell people what they should do to produce certain results. Managers believe that when they tell people what to do, then things will get better. However, Truly Human Leaders believe in the potential of people. They tell people the results they want and then allow them to find a way to produce it. Henry Ford told his engines the why and what and left the how to them. The why inspired them to keep going until they came up with what he told them to do.

3. Managers use fear to motivate, Truly Human Leaders use purpose to inspire: Managers use carrot and stick to motivate people, but Truly Human Leaders use higher purpose and a cause that is bigger than life to inspire people to perform. If you want high performance from people, then inspire them with something that is bigger than life.

4. Managers sacrifice people for their success, Truly Human Leaders make sacrifices for their people’s success: When things are not going right, managers look for people to sacrifice. In the same place, Truly Human Leaders make sacrifices so that people will have hope. Managers are rewarded for sacrificing people, while Truly Human Leaders reward themselves for making sacrifices so others will have a better future.

5. Managers measure success by the bottom line, Truly Human Leaders measure success by impact on people’s lives: To a manager, the business exist to make profit. However, to a Truly Human Leader, the company exist to transform and impact lives and profit is just a byproduct of touching people’s lives. Truly Human Leaders measure success by the impact they make on people’s lives and families and communities.

6. Managers create structures to control people, Truly Human Leaders frees people: Managers develop different tools that control people, but Truly Human Leaders continually look for ways to free people. They understand that creativity and innovation happen when people have freedom. Leaders want everyone to work for freedom.

7. Managers care for the status quo, Truly Human Leaders care for the people: Managers are concern about maintaining the status quo. They want everything to remain the way it is. But Truly Human Leaders care about the people and they want people to grow and transform.

“The leaders who get the most out of their people are the leaders who care most about their people.” Simon Sinek

8. Managers predict the future, Truly Human Leaders create the future: Managers are good at creating plans and making analysis that predicts how the future will turn out based on events they see happening. However, Truly Human Leaders are creators of the future.

9. Managers maintain and extract value, Truly Human Leaders create value: The major aim of management is maintenance and extraction of value from what a Truly Human Leader has created. Truly Human Leaders create confidence, direction and capability.

10. Managers talk to people, Truly Human Leaders connect with people: Truly Human Leaders touch the heart of people before asking for their hands. Managers demand for a hand. Connecting gives people a sense of belonging and make them have meaningful conversations.

11. Managers treat people as functions, Truly Human Leaders treat people as humans: To a manager, you are all about your job description, whether you are meeting expectations of or not. and if you are not meeting, no one cares about what caused it. You are reprimanded. However, Truly Human Leaders understand that how people are treated at home impacts how they treat others. Also people have dreams, purpose and aspirations and are somebody else’s child and should be treated with care as they will their children.

Truly Human Companies are companies of leaders. Every leader is focus on how to do good to the others. They are a force for good in the world because they care for the humans. Every organization needs more Truly Human Leaders to make its future bigger and better by unleashing the potential of its people when it unlocks the capacity to care for them.

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