‘Talking of scientists,’ said the young chief executive, ‘we borrowed their distinction between necessary and sufficient conditions. So if all the necessary conditions we have identified – contingent and generic qualities, professional knowledge and understanding of people, and functional ‘three-circle’ capabilities – are present in a person, will he or she be perceived as a leader? In other words, do the three approaches added together – the whole that is more than the sum of its parts – constitute the elusive sufficient condition we have been searching for?’
‘We must be very close to it,’ I replied. ‘It has been said that you can be appointed a manager, but you are not a leader until your appointment has been ratified in the hearts and minds of those involved. It’s when people start using the word leader about you that you, as it were, become a leader. That is why I always think of being called a leader as receiving an accolade, an indirect mark of acknowledgement.’
‘I imagine that if people do not ratify your appointment in this way, you remain merely a manager. Is this how leaders differ from managers?’
‘Perhaps a better way of putting it would be to say that it explains how managers who are leaders differ from those who are not. A manager in this context simply means someone who is responsible for managing a business or public service, or a part of one. It has replaced the much older job name of administrator. Your MBA – Master of Business Administration – is a relic of those days.’
‘Can you be a good manager without being a leader?’
‘Yes, I think you can be a good manager – but not one of the best. If we speak of someone as being a good administrator or manager that implies that they have the typical qualities or attributes we expect in a manager…’
‘They are reliable, responsible, trustworthy, hard-working, thrifty with scarce resources, plan ahead, keep to agreed procedures or systems, prompt in business, open-minded to change, knowledgeable in their specialities, meticulous over detail, cheerful, fair and courteous in their dealings with staff and colleagues, keep in control of things, loyal to the organization, achieve their targets, good time managers – I could go on,’ offered the young chief executive.
‘No need,’ I said, ‘for you have just sketched in roughly what makes a person a good manager. You will notice that the list doesn’t contain some of the attributes we associate with leadership, such as providing direction, creating teamwork, leading by example and inspiring others. These are not alternatives: they are the extras, if you like, the added value, that leadership brings to management. If the managerial attributes are there, it is comparatively easy to move from merely being a good manager or supervisor to being on the path that leads to becoming a business leader at the level appropriate to the person – team, operational or strategic.’
‘So you don’t stop being a manager at a certain stage and become a leader?’
‘Did you cease to be a son when you became a husband, or give up being a husband when you became a father? There is no such thing as a leader in the abstract. You will never walk down the street and see a leader. You will see a politician who is a leader, an accountant who is a leader, a doctor or nurse who is a leader, a teacher who is a leader, a military commander who is a leader, a police officer…’
‘Alright, alright, I’ve got the message,’ laughed the young chief executive. ‘Well, I am glad that you reminded me that leadership is an abstraction, a kind of mental periodic table for arranging in clusters all the elements we see in leaders in various fields.’
‘There is, however, a very useful broad distinction to be made between managing and leading, always bearing in mind that it is not either/or but both and…’
‘A spectrum of some kind?’
‘Precisely. And I think we can now identify fairly clearly the situations that call for something more at the managing end of the spectrum and those that activate the leadership cells towards the other pole. Any guesses?’
He Showed Himself Such An Example Of
Kindly Wisdom,
Such A Combination Of Serious Purpose,
Humanity And Courtesy,
That The Others Had No Thought In Their
Minds Save To Labour With One Common
Will For The Success Of All
The University of Cambridge orator speaking of General Eisenhower, Supreme Allied Commander in the invasion of Europe, on the occasion when he received an honorary degree.