In the last decade or so, business and management academics, writers, “gurus” and executives alike have all touted the importance of leadership.

They’ve written about it. They’ve spoken about it. They’ve conducted MBA courses on it. They’ve practiced it.

And they’ve certainly worshipped it.

And so they should. Leadership is critical, right? It’s what gives companies direction — what drives them onward and upward to success.

Without leadership a company would be all dressed up with nowhere to go.

And please don’t confuse it with management. Leadership captivates us with the why and what; management bores us with the how, who, when and where.

Leaders are the visionaries. The thinkers. Those exceptional “big picture” people who inspire us to embrace their vision for the future.

Managers… well they’re the people who can’t lead. Managers lack big picture vision; they too mired in the details — the small picture. And they’re too busy organizing than orchestrating.

Only it’s the managers who actually get us where we want to go. After all, what good is it having a road toward the future without an operational car to get us there?

It seems to me that in all this glorification of leaders and leadership… managers and management have been unjustly maligned… To the point where “management” is equated with being small-minded, reactive, controlling, even stifling.

As a result, while up-and-coming professionals, executives, entrepreneurs and small business owners, focus on developing leadership skills… they neglect to develop management skills. The very skills that get things done.

What skills are these?

Well, in my opinion, management is basically about allocating resources to achieve a goal. Great managers do a little more than that, but the manager’s role is essentially to allocate resources — whether people, money, tools, information, or any other resource — and match those resources to tasks.

So while leadership may be responsible for determining what the goal is, management is crucial to achieving it.

Based on that, management is just as important to achieving a goal as leadership wouldn’t you say?

And typically, for every leader with a compelling vision, a business needs a certain number of managers to organize the work and the workers, in order to achieve that vision. (It also needs an even greater number of workers but that’s the subject of another article!).

So… if the average business needs more managers than leaders… why doesn’t the business “intelligentsia” give equal — if not greater emphasis — to the development of management skills than to leadership skills?

Possibly because too much emphasis has been given to management than to leadership in the past… or possibly because having a big vision and inspiring people is so much sexier than the nitty-gritty of preparing budgets, hiring people, delegating tasks, monitoring performance, choosing vendors, and the “mundane” tasks of management.

Or perhaps the tasks of a manager are just plain obvious…

So obvious that many executives, professionals, entrepreneurs and small business owners find themselves in management positions… where they’re full of vision and grand plans… but can’t get the people they manage to actually do the things necessary to accomplish that plan and those grand plans!

Enough already!

We need more managers — or should I say people with management skills — not more leaders. Big dreams abound… the capabilities to access and allocate resources to achieve those big dreams are in far too short supply.

Introduction 

Leadership tips are available anywhere.  There are books, seminars, posters to put on the wall.  I’ll try not to repeat the most common ones.  In this article we deal with ego. 

Everyone has an ego.  If you are in a leadership position, even of your own making, then you probably have a substantial ego.  It’s not a bad thing.  A strong ego is at the heart of your self confidence.  It’s what helps you make and defend decisions, and fight off your competition.  Your ego is a critical part of who you are as a leader.  It can also work against you. 

Leadership Tip in Story Form 

Recruited to a new job in a new location, I inherited an IT organization of around 100 people.  Their reputation was that they were hard working but ineffective.  There were quality issues with systems, and projects almost never delivered on time or on budget. 

So there I am, in week two or three on the job, sitting in a meeting with 8 managers from different departments.  The group is reviewing outstanding issues on a specific project and figuring out how to address them.  Everything is being handled smoothly, and the group quickly reaches consensus — a schedule slip is required. 

This was one consensus that was achieved far too quickly for me.  I spoke up (loudly) and told the group the schedule slips had to stop.  I told them their reputation with client organizations was in the toilet, and it was time for this behavior to change or we would have to change the makeup of the management team.  I told them I didn’t relocate my family to be part of a group of losers. 

Dead Silence 

Yes, the room was very quiet for just a minute.  Then one of the managers spoke up, rather forcefully.  And all she said was, and I quote, “Don’t you ever talk to us like that”. 

Whoa, didn’t see that coming.  Moreover, I didn’t like it one bit.  I could feel the blood boiling and my face getting red.  Here I was, the new sheriff in town, and I’d just laid down the law.   

Now sports fans, a quick check of the scoreboard.  There are zero people jumping to my side of this conflict.  One brave (or stupid) manager strongly challenging my authority, and seven other people saying nothing but watching very closely to see how this game is going to end. 

My gut, fueled by my ego, told me to fire that woman on the spot, or at least toss her out of the meeting and tell the rest of the group that anyone who wanted to join her was free to go.  Somehow, somewhere I got enough common sense (something not always compatible with big egos) to declare a ten minute break. 

Everyone left the room but me, and I’m sure there were some interesting conversations that went on as folks strolled down the hall.  I had some decisions to make, fast. 

Separating Ego from What’s Really Important 

When everyone came back into the room, I think I shocked them all.  I thanked the rebellious manager for her feedback, and apologized for my behavior.  Then I quickly made clear the difference between my behavior and my position. 

The group needed to understand that the easy action of slipping the schedule should not be easy, and could no longer be an easy decision as we went forward.  How I made that point to them was wrong, but the point I made was non-negotiable.  I intended to challenge them, every day if I had to, but I promised to do so with respect, and I apologized for having been disrespectful before the break. 

That was tough.  Inside, I really was still angry at that manager who spoke out.  I didn’t know yet whether this team of people really could change their behavior and turn the organization’s performance around.   I thought my original gut instincts were more right than wrong.   

I wouldn’t hear the term ego sacrifice until a year or two after this incident, but boy did I sacrifice my ego that day.  And it hurt my pride.  Here’s the thing, though.  The hurt healed, pretty quickly.  And from that day forward, eight managers saw me differently. 

When you sacrifice your ego, you don’t wimp out.  You separate your own pride from the situation.   I didn’t yield on the importance of sticking to committed project schedules.  Starting right then schedule slips were treated as a very big deal, and there were less of them.  At the same time, I established an implicit value of mutual respect that would govern many future discussions and issues. 

What would have happened without the ego sacrifice?  It’s hard to say precisely, but the one thing that’s certain is that mutual respect as a shared value would not have taken root that day.  Regardless what might have happened to that specific project, I have no doubt that some of the improvements that group made in the following months and years would not have happened.  And my ego would have been to blame.

Leadership Coaching Program

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Everyone is a Leader – one only needs to identify and capitalize on it!