Management and leadership have many definitions and, at times, have been used interchangeably, even though I believe they should not. When I speak with different audiences, I mention that I believe there are many managers, but few leaders. Organizations need both, but I have found that organizations consist of many managers and few leaders, even at the executive level.
Management has many definitions, and one of them is:
Management in business is the process of planning, organizing, leading, and controlling people and resources to achieve defined organizational goals efficiently and effectively.
Like management, there are many definitions of leadership. I have defined leadership in the following manner:
Leadership
“Leadership is the capacity of an individual in a managerial position to positively influence, engage, and motivate their workforce. One where they demonstrate empathy, compassion, listen to understand, rather than respond, is trustworthy, authentic, and creates a psychologically safe environment. One where they create clarity and minimize uncertainty as much as possible during organizational change. In summary, a leader is one who creates an environment where the workforce feels engaged.”
Peter Drucker has been credited with saying, “that managers do the right things while leaders do things right”. I like to describe and differentiate these two terms as management is the what and leadership is the how. I believe when workers stay in an organization, part of the reason is because of leadership, not management.
One question to consider is how will those in your organization describe their bosses? As managers, leaders, or both? Some reading this article might think who cares? But the reality is that today’s organizations need more than just managers, irrespective of level. Today’s workforce is looking for purpose, mastery, autonomy, happiness, and to be appreciated and cared for by their managerial staff, and this will take leadership.
Implications for Organizations
One thing that is going to be a constant is the need for organizations to continue to adapt and change, or they risk becoming the Blockbuster of the past and other organizations that no longer exist. One of the growing changes that is expected to create a lot of change is the growing era of Artificial Intelligence (AI). The desired skills needed going forward in the era of AI have been identified as creativity, resilience, flexibility, leadership, and social influence. In addition, organizations, through their leaders, need to create a healthy workplace. This will require leadership.
With change comes uncertainty; we are wired for routine and predictability, and our brains have a high intolerance for uncertainty. Most in the workforce have been found to resist change because they don’t like it, understand it, or like who is forcing the change. This is going to require leaders who create a safe and certain environment, communicate effectively, are empathetic, and help make the changes easy to understand in order to minimize uncertainty.
Leaders need to recognize that in today’s organizations and in these times, they play five roles. The five roles are celebrity, because everyone is watching them. A quasi-psychologist, because of how they are thinking and feeling and how they interact with others. A quasi-sociologist, because of team dynamics, and a quasi-anthropologist, because of the organizational culture they can influence and create. Last, as a director of an orchestra, because just like a director of an orchestra have to bring out beautiful music from different instruments and diverse musicians, leaders need to bring out the best in their diverse teams so they can deliver their services and products.
Today’s organizations need leaders that are curious, recognize and work on their unconscious biases, are flexible, work to be emotionally intelligent, look to create a human-focused organization, and adapt to the situation and workforce in front of them. This reminds me of a former Marine Sergeant Major I met while delivering leadership workshops. He went from serving in the Marines for over 20 years, including in combat, to working in a nuclear power plant in the administrative department of mainly female workers. He shared with me how he had to adapt and change to his present workforce vs. where he had spent the previous 20+ years.
His story reminds me of the following. And that is that leaders need to remember that leadership starts with the mind. Their mind determines their choices, their choices determine their actions, and their actions shape their leadership behaviors. No AI will be able to replicate this. In the growing era of AI and uncertainty, organizations will need more human leadership, not less.
What do you think?
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Edwin Mourin᷁o – Ruiz, Ph.D.
Dr. Edwin Mouriño is an Air Force veteran, author, Human Capital, and DEI practitioner and speaker. As a human capital practitioner, Dr. Mouriño’s focus has been on helping leaders and organizations help themselves. He is an experienced professional with many years of leading and/or supporting key elements of organizational change projects. Dr. Mouriño is an Air Force veteran who began his career in Diversity Equity and Inclusion (DEI) as a graduate of the DOD-Defense Equal Opportunity & Management Institute (DEOMI) and has also been a speaker.
He brings broad industry experience that includes Fortune 100 companies. He is the founder and president of Human Intelligent (HI) Workplace, an organization focused on helping leaders help themselves through leadership, team development, and executive coaching. He has been and continues to serve as a college professor. He is also a Senior Fellow with the Conference Board on the DEI and Leadership Steering Committees.
He has extensive experience and thought leadership on Human Capital issues and supported organizational change efforts through Leadership Development, DEI, Executive Coaching, Team Development, Executive Retreats, Personality Assessments, and Organizational Change. He has spoken at numerous professional venues and written numerous articles on human capital trends impacting organizations, specifically addressing DE, and is the author and co-editor of several books.
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