Principals of Business Management Week 1

doe, john

Principals of Business Management

Week 1 / Option 3

In my personal opinion a leader is someone who I would follow undoubtedly, with out fear. A leader is someone who motivates me to do bigger and better things. He teaches with out directing and makes me feel comfortable trying new things or approaching him with a question. A manager on the other hand is someone who directs me to do things and tells me exactly how to do them. He may also be a motivator, but he motives with fear of punishment or reprisal. A manager knows how to direct staff and projects, but I feel like my best interest is not in his mind.

That’s enough about my opinions. According to changingminds.org the main difference in manager and leaders is the way they motivate the people who work or follow them. They say that this sets the tone for most other aspects of what they do. They make on very good point that I hadn’t really thought about though. That point was that to at least some extent, most people are both manager and leaders.

By definition, mangers have subordinates unless their title is honorary and given as a mark of seniority. Which, I personally have seen on several occasions. Managers are authoritative, work focused and they seek comfort. Meaning that they have a position of authority vested in them by the company, they are paid to get things done and interestingly enough they tend to come from sable homes and have led relatively normal and comfortable lives.

Leaders do not have subordinates when they are leading. However, many do have leaders, but only because they are also managers. It seems to be a difficult balance because they say that when they want to lead they have to give up formal authoritarian control, because to lead is to have followers, and following is always a voluntary activity.

Leaders are charismatic, people focused and they seek risk. Meaning that telling people what to do does not inspire them to follow you. You have to...