Are You a Manager or a LEADER?

Well, at least not necessarily.

Recently, when writing an article on How to Know You are a Leader for Entrepreneur, some of my research deviated me to a rather common occurrence where people don’t know the difference between a manager and a leader.

They assume that because someone is in a top position, they would be leaders - something that cannot be farther away from the truth and far grimmer because then they start following them as they would a leader.

Now to act as a prelude to my Entrepreneur piece, I thought of writing this article that would help clarify the air around the assumed similarity between a manager and a leader.

The crux of it all: A manager can, in fact, be a leader but not when the assumptions are followed to mark a similarity.

Let us together debunk some myths which are blurring the line between a manager and a leader.

Position Makes Leaders

The biggest myth that is simply waiting to be debunked is the assumption that someone who holds a top position in the company is a leader.

A warehouse in-charge who holds a party when the workers' productivity is dim is a bigger leader than the CEO who takes the bonus and go on a vacation, just at the time of salary freeze.

The main difference between a leader and a manager is that while the latter build systems, the former build relations.

There Can Be Only One Leader in a Team

The next myth surrounding the blurry lines of managers and leaders is that a team can only have one leader - something that is doing of point one that we read above.

While the truth is that when a team’s manager becomes a leader, they are able to inculcate an environment where everyone in the team steps up as a leader when the time is demanding and steps down when it’s not the time.

In an ideal work situation, almost like utopian work culture, everyone in the team should operate as a leader.

Leaders Must be Extroverts

A straight forward media created assumption is that all the leaders are extroverts and good orators. Well, if that was true, Adolf Hitler was a good leader and not a dictator and Mahatma Gandhi was not a leader but some passer-by who tried to bring peace to the world.

The truth is when leaders become trailblazers, an ego seeps in, which automatically demotes them as managers who primarily care more about their selfish needs than their team’s conscious health.

They Have Walls Around Them Protecting Emotions From Coming In

Among the so many assumptions, another common one is people thinking that what makes some out of them good leaders is the fact that they don’t get affected and keep their head held up high no matter what life throws at them.

While it is true that the leaders are in fact very goal focussed, they cannot really be deemed as leaders until they have the art of empathy to step into their team’s shoes and understand what emotion is guiding what reaction. Until and unless they start shadowing the same reaction as their team’s, they will remain managers.

So, next time if someone tells you that you are too sensitive to be a leader, try to pass it along and take it as a personal compliment.

They Have All The Answers

One of the reasons why people make managers sit on the leader throne is because they have all the answers. And of course a knowledgeable person is a leader, right? NO.

In fact, a leader is someone who finds an answer with you and above all, accepts when they don’t have a solution.

Have you fallen victim to this manager is leader misassumption? Share what you went through in the comments below.