When is it important to hire a manager and when is it important to hire a leader?
What can a leader do for a community?
What does a manager do for a community?
I believe the greatest differences between managers and leaders are the following attributes:
- Leaders use an intellectual lens--they think about the landscape with the lens of research, experience, and understanding. They are often well schooled.
- Leaders are empathetic, compassionate, and caring individuals who lead with the welfare of the whole team in mind.
- Leaders inspire the best of what people can be.
- Leaders are vulnerable and willing to share their mistakes and take risks too.
- Leaders model what they expect of others.
- Leaders are transparent and forthcoming with information and news so that everyone knows what's going on.
- Leaders use ambition to serve mission and not the other way around.
- Leaders are courageous, loving, kind people.
Finding good leaders is not easy work as I bet if you think about those that have truly led you with strength in your life, you will not be able to name that many people. True leaders do exist and are worth seeking.
As educators, it's important that we nurture those skills in each other and in our students. It's important to our world that we develop good leaders and leadership as it's needed to move our communities, schools, and organizations forward.
There can be many levels of leadership, and the attributes that define those levels are attributes very different from those of managers. This is an important distinction and one we need to think about as we seek the leaders we'll follow as we develop our craft and careers.
