John Kotter is one of my favorite authors and his books are among Amazon’s top 1%. He provides solid research that is very readable. As one of the youngest faculty members to be tenured at Harvard Business School, Kotter wrote one of my top 3 favorite books, Leading Change. Another of his popular books is A Force for Change: How Leadership Differs from Management. Here is how he compares leaders and managers:
Leaders
- Establishing Direction
- Aligning People
- Motivating and Inspiring
Managers
- Planning & budgeting
- Organizing & staffing
- Controlling & problem solving
It is not like one is right and one is wrong. In a related HBR article, “What Leaders Really Do,” Kotter writes “management and leadership are two distinct and complementary systems of action….Both are necessary for success” However, he does go on to say that most organizations are “over-managed and under-led.”
Think about how you manage these dozen activities. Would you put yourself as Great (5), Good (4), Adequate (3), Poor (2), or DQ (1) for the following?
- Establishing Direction
- Aligning People
- Motivating and Inspiring
- ——————————-
- Planning and Budgeting
- Organizing and Staffing
- Controlling and Problem Solving
GLframeworks are designed to build your understanding of key leadership and management concepts.
