A Manager and a Leader

The difference between a manager and a leader is a question that can be answered differently. However, both of them motivate people who follow them or work for them; this sets the tone for all the other differences. It is necessary to note that the success of an organization depends on the ability to function as both a leader and a manager. The secret is to know when to switch to the managerial role or leadership role.

A leader always possesses personal powers and one of them is the ability to influence, while a manager possesses positional powers, meaning the ability to command. Leaders tell the followers what to do and influence their conduct and behaviors towards what he/she says (Tripathy 46). Managers, on the other hand, use their position to command people to do what is necessary, he/she, therefore, does not influence the conduct of the people since they do what they are told. This prohibits employee innovativeness since staffs waits for directions from the managers. Managers have to be able to solve unexpected situations and deal with problems; if they do, they will show a good example for their employees and lead them. This happened in the example given when the manager was confused, and all the employees were freaked out leaving the customers dissatisfied.

While leaders have followers, managers have subordinates. Managers have authority vested on them by virtue of the position they hold in the organization. In the insignia example, the manager did not use his positional authority to influence people come up with ways of dealing with the crises. There are such situations when employees wait for directions from the managers. The owner, on the other hand, influenced the employees to seat the customers at the back (Bertocci and Bertocci 35).

A leader innovates while manager administers. Leaders are innovative and develop new ways of doing things. The managers, on the other hand, administer the innovations developed by the leader. In the example given, the manager freaked out when customers lacked space and furniture to sit. The owner, instead of panicking, came up with the idea of sitting people at the back of the restaurant. He also went an extra step to make people happy.

How a person leads or manages others depends a lot on the personality and skills of a person. Followers or subordinates follow a person who is trustworthy and accountable. The leader takes responsibility of the actions of the followers, not looking for people to blame. This way, the followers attain confidence that they will not get punishments due to their efforts. Followers also get confidence that the leaders recognize and will reward their efforts (Tripathy 24).

Leaders have the vision of the company or organization at heart. They share the direction, passion and dream that the followers need to follow. The vision goes beyond the written vision statements, and it manifests itself through the leaders’ actions, values and beliefs. When the management is passionate about the company’s vision, then the followers share and live the dream willingly. However, if the management does not live the vision, the followers also do not live it.

The ability to inspire people to aspire to reach the greatest height of their abilities is a leadership quality paramount for successful leadership in nay organization. Listening, passion, purpose and willingness help others make a leader inspirational. If a leader is able to communicate that passion, then establishing an inspirational culture becomes easy (Bertocci and Bertocci 66).

Ethical behavior of managers determines how they manage other people. All managers know the values and ethics that govern an organization, and effective leaders exhibit both in the leadership. When leaders are ethical, then it becomes easy for them to influence the followers to be ethical. However, if the leaders are unethical, then it becomes hard to influence followers to be ethical.