The business world needs both great leaders and great managers, but most people don’t do both well.
The tables below summarize the major differences between managers and leaders, taken from a book called “The Leader Within” by Ken Blanchard.
As you read the list of qualities and attributes, ask yourself which ones you lean towards naturally.
Given the characteristics above, we see that the term manager typifies the more structured, controlled, analytical, orderly, and rule-oriented side of the spectrum.
The leader side of the spectrum connotes a more experimental, visionary, unstructured, flexible, and impassioned side.
Using the DISC behavioral chart below, it would seem that the introverted styles (Steadiness and Compliance) would correlate with management while the extroverted styles (Dominance and Influence) would tend toward more leadership qualities.
Is that the answer then? Is it that simple? Ahhh, if only human behavior was ever simple!
We must remember that DISC is only ONE aspect of a human being’s potential. There are other aspects that trump behavior and one is a person’s drivers.
If an S or C is motivated and driven to be a leader (their WHY), they can learn and adapt the necessary behaviors and competencies they need to (the HOW and WHAT).
Is it easy? No. They have to work harder at thinking strategically, taking risks, and speaking their minds than the D’s and I’s.
But before you get discouraged thinking that it is too difficult for an S or C person to become a leader, just think of Bill Gates, Mahatma Gandhi, and Martin Luther King Jr.
None of these people were D or I behavioral style and yet no one can argue with their leadership, influence, and impact on our world.
As Bill Walsh, an American football coach, said…
