Leadership vs. Management Distinction
Managers make widgets; leaders make change
Godin draws a sharp, permanent line between management and leadership, arguing that the two words should no longer be treated as synonyms. Management is about manipulating resources to get a known job done: a Burger King franchise manager knows exactly what needs to be delivered and is given resources to do it at low cost. Leadership is about creating change that you believe in. Managers have employees; leaders have followers. Managers make widgets; leaders make change.
The framework extends into what Godin calls the factory mindset versus the tribe mindset. Factories were built around efficiency, compliance, and the absence of responsibility. Workers ran to factories because the deal was simple: do what you are told, get paid, avoid surprises. But the factory advantage has faded. In an age of leverage where ideas and style beat machines, the old deal is no longer attractive or safe. The organizations of the future are filled with smart, fast, flexible people on a mission, and that requires leadership, not management.
Godin introduces the metaphor of the thermostat versus the thermometer. Thermometers merely report that something is broken. Organizations are full of human thermometers who criticize, point out problems, or whine. Thermostats actually change the environment in sync with the outside world. Every organization needs at least one thermostat, a leader who creates change consistently over time.
- Management is about manipulating resources to get a known job done; leadership is about creating change you believe in.
- The easiest thing is to react, the second easiest is to respond, and the hardest is to initiate. Leaders initiate.
- A thermostat changes the environment; a thermometer merely reports on it. Be a thermostat.
- If your organization requires success before commitment, it will never have either.
- Settling is a malignant habit; the art of leadership is understanding what you cannot compromise on.
- Audit Your Current PostureHonestly assess whether your daily work is primarily managing (executing known processes, reducing costs, following instructions) or leading (creating change, challenging conventions, inspiring others). Most people discover they are managing even when they have the opportunity to lead.Pro tipAsk yourself: How was my day? If the answer is 'fine,' you probably were not leading. Leaders describe their days as challenging, exciting, or meaningful, not fine.
- Identify Where You Are Reacting vs. InitiatingMap your activities into three categories: reacting (instinctive, often dangerous responses to stimuli), responding (thoughtful action in response to external events), and initiating (causing the events that others react to). Shift your time budget toward initiation.Pro tipZig Ziglar noted that reacting is what your body does when you take the wrong medicine. Politicians react all the time. Leaders initiate.
- Stop SettlingIdentify the areas where you have compromised to keep things quiet, to avoid conflict with bureaucracy, or to maintain the status quo. Settling is comfortable but leads to mediocrity. The art of leadership is understanding what you absolutely cannot compromise on.Pro tipMatt Groening resisted the studio's push to fill The Simpsons Movie with paid product placements. His fierce protection of the creative vision saved the movie. Compromise may expedite a project, but it can also kill it.
- Take Responsibility for Communication OutcomesAdopt the leader's posture: if people do not believe your idea, it is your failure, not theirs. If they are bored by your presentation, that is your fault. If students do not learn, you have let them down. This radical ownership of communication outcomes is what separates leaders from managers who blame the audience.Pro tipYou have a choice when you communicate: design products to be easy to use, write so your audience hears you, present in a way that guarantees the right people will listen.
- Commit Before Evidence of SuccessIf your organization (or your personal decision-making process) requires proof of success before committing resources, you will never have either success or commitment. Leadership requires the ability to stick with the dream long enough that critics realize you are going to get there one way or another, and then they follow.Pro tipThe iPhone was dismissed by pundits. Visa and MasterCard took years to gain traction. Even the restaurant with a line out the door did not open that way. Trial and gradual improvement, not overnight home runs, is the path.
When the Los Angeles Philharmonic needed a new conductor, they had a thousand qualified individuals who excelled at yesterday's hard work. Instead, they hired a twenty-six-year-old sensation from Venezuela whose resume could not compare to his peers. They realized they could always find someone to maintain the status quo; what they needed was a leader to bring the organization to a new audience.
Kellogg's owned hundreds of millions of dollars in cereal factories, a huge sales force, shelf space, and advertising budgets. Bear Naked had none of these assets. Instead of managing a portfolio of assets or protecting a factory, Bear Naked led the way down a different path based on fashion, change, and leverage.
At a convention during the mortgage crisis, the Realtor population was completely split. Half were angry, bitter, and scared about external forces destroying their careers. The other half were excited, seeing the crisis as an opportunity to eliminate opportunity seekers and establish themselves as professionals.
Godin traces the factory model to two forces: efficiency (factories are profitable) and human nature (part of us wants the absence of responsibility that a factory job provides). He illustrates this with a trip to India where the universal dream job was government bureaucrat: steady pay, air conditioning, no surprises. The I Love Lucy candy assembly line scene is his iconic image of management (not leadership) under pressure. The framework crystallized as Godin watched industry after industry discover that the factory-centric model was no longer as profitable as it used to be, while simultaneously observing that consumers had decided to spend money on fashion, stories, and things they believe in rather than factory-produced commodities.