Leaders are wired & gifted to lead. Managers are wired & gifted to manage. Rarely is the same person wired & gifted to do both. Ever stop to wonder which you really are?
Forget your title. Here are a couple indicators of which you might be wired & gifted to do: If you’re a leader, you’re gifted at being visionary, staying out in front, taking calculated, well-informed risk and effectively communicating to your team and your marketplace the heart, thinking and opportunity behind the destination you see. You’re typically able to thin slice people and opportunities (see Malcolm Gladwell’s latest book), corral your team’s insights and make the decision to proceed or kill the initiative, move beyond fear of failure, and begin running towards what you see, pulling your team with you, giving them the freedom, responsibility and authority to execute (AND provide input & solutions) beyond your capabilities. The thought of that makes you jump out of your seat.
If you’re a manager, you’re gifted at receiving vision from a leader, maybe even refining it, but then you thrive on assigning, improving, mapping and overseeing execution of processes.
Of the dozens of small business partnerships I’ve seen fail, in every instance, either both partners are trying to do both functions, or they’ve divided the two but they’re both wired the same. Whether it’s a partnership, an executive team, or even in a family, leaders and managers work well together if they can transparently declare which they are and embrace staying in their own lanes, accomplishing greatness without concern for who gets the credit.
