Who is a Leader, Who is a Manager, How You Can Be Both

Becoming a manager is a tough job. It is a role that often is sought until the position is filled, finally realizing that the duties and sometimes chores that follow are not inline with what you would have expected. The good news is, it is often just that—a job. 

Being a leader is much different and something that I would argue is more of a calling and engrained in an individual, not just a position you seek. To lead you must always be willing to sacrifice yourself while supporting and uplifting those around you despite your present circumstances. 

This is not normal. It cuts against the grain of basic survival thinking and is something that like Maybelline used to tell us in their classic ads, maybe you're just born with it. In fact, I would say you are. 

In my past I would often hear sales trainers and others speak to leaders and managers being different people. How a leader and a manager can’t or won’t be the same. 

While I agree that not all managers are leaders—often few are as there are management positions aplenty in the world—leaders can be great managers when setting proper goals, expectations and understanding their limitations along the way. 

The two personality archetypes that build great managers and leaders won’t always overlap, and often we find strong leaders in the ranks—not just leading the teams or setting goals. 

So how do you discover what you are, what your role should be and how you can develop into the best version of one or both of these things? 

Being a Leader

Being a leader is an easy place to live if you are meant to be one. Self sacrifice for others will be natural. Your care for growth in others supported by you will be a drive that is undeniable. One that with nearly every action you take represents the goal of supporting and uplifting everything and everyone you touch. 

You will want to provide care to those in your sphere of influence and the growth with support that you help those obtain—even in the smallest of events or circumstances—will provide you with personal affirmation. It will “fill your cup” and drive you further in life and career. 

At that point of understanding your personal growth will be an aside—a value-add to you. It's an addition to the calling of ensuring your position in the world is maintained and your purpose is recognized. 

Have you ever sat and thought how truthfully content you were to see others succeed? Has it ever been at a time when you may have wanted a position, a role in a play or a starting position on a team? Better yet, have you ever faced the adversity of watching others grow beyond you but the deeply rooted fulfillment came anyway—not spite or jealousy of your lack of outward achievement. 

If you can honestly answer those questions with an unequivocal yes then the likelihood you are a leader would seem pretty strong. If you answer with a no, I want that position or gain anyway, then clearly you have missed the mark. 

You know what though, that’s absolutely ok. Not everyone is meant to be a true leader. No one will despise you for not pushing a promotion aside to help them achieve it. Most won’t want to understand. They likely will be questioning the “why” behind your actions right after they say “thank you” for the preparation and gain. 

Again, there is nothing wrong with not having that trait, but if you question whether you have it or not you are more than likely leaning to the yes side of the Ouija board of life. If so, embrace it! Be willing to do what you are called to do in that very situation, not what everyone around you may impress upon you. 

The greatest leaders are often marked by massive sacrifice. You must have a will to give everything away except yourself. That can be a tough pill to swallow. 

Being a Manager

Being a manager is much more clear cut. You are tasked with setting goals, understanding and labeling boundaries for your teams and pushing production by finding the proper process with follow on implementation and to-market strategy.

Your role is to provide duties and structure to your teams. You must have a firm understanding of the achievements that are desired for your group, as well as have the guts and demeanor to push others. Sometimes you have to push others beyond comfort, but that is how the role works. 

I would also venture to say that you must always be prepared for Murphy's Law to show itself, and have planned for it to occur. 

In my past I have used this phrase often: Plan to work, work the plan, plan to adapt.

This singular mantra sums up quickly and easily for your teams a basic principle of understanding that shit will hit the fan, but when it does acknowledge that there is a needed change and move in the direction you are brought to. 

How often have you had your day or week change in an instant? Canceled appointments—if you are in sales and you have never been canceled on, work harder and pump that activity up—had a critical machine breakdown, had a truck cancel or miss-drop a delivery and beyond. I could truly go on for days with the problems you will face. 

A good or even solid manager will have answers to these problems and a plan for follow on action. By being a solutions oriented person and having primary and secondary options to the original plan with proper motivating techniques for success and execution you will be a good manager. 

In addition, managing tasks properly with the Eisenhower Matrix by utilizing your people around you to get things done efficiently and effectively will help the ball find paydirt. 

Yep, it takes all this to be a good manager. It’s a lot, but worth the endeavor when your cheeks hit the manager's seat. 

How to be Both

Now that discovery mode is over and we understand what it takes to fill those two specific roles, let’s wrap this sucker up and discuss how you can and will achieve both given the right opportunities and skills. 

First, being a leader is tougher than I mentioned above because of the "affirmation of the help" piece of the puzzle. You want others to achieve, do well and enjoy the fruits of their labor—sometimes to a fault. Guess what—yep, I've done that so this comes from hard experience. 

The natural inclination is to solve all the problems as needed, giving the ultimate support and uplifting stance to those you touch. Turning that key to becoming a good manager as well means you can fight the urge to give in when necessary. You can let your people fail gracefully and be supported, allowing them to build the process along the way. 

You have to be willing to fight the inner calling to hop in the thick of it at times and lead the way—instead allowing the Eisenhower Matrix to take hold. You have to affirm their positions around and below you by giving them tasks and letting them run. 

Managers must first define if they have that leadership quality of care and selflessness while keeping their nose to the grindstone as needed. Quite frankly the noses of their teams as well. 

They have to show empathy for a cause, not just a single line to hold in the proverbial battle they find themselves in. Be flexible but firm, calculated but open. 

Not anyone can manage, and not all can lead. The truth is also flipped in that statement. Leaders must work to manage themselves and their time wisely. If stepping into a management role they must brush up on their attention to details and dive into the admin grind like Scrooge McDuck into a pile of gold doubloons. 

As I said before, leaders can be managers and vice versa. Acknowledging who you are and what your limitations will be along the way is the only way to handle both. 

If you are a manager, embrace leaders around you. If you are a leader on a team, solidify the standing of that manager—if not you—with your actions and undying support to the cause you are a part of. 

There is no easy answer here, but it is simply a yes to all counts. Take time to evaluate yourself, speak with others around you in and outside of your organization to understand what they see. Take in the input and create better output. Become the role of both and you will be fulfilled beyond your wildest imagination. In fact, Walt Disney would be jealous.