Leaders know where to go. Managers know how to get there. Leaders are about strategy. Managers are about tactics. Leaders decide to build a tower, determining the best placement, height, capacity; they project a vision of the incredible vistas to be viewed from the top of the tower. In short, leaders see the future. Managers on the other hand know the resources needed to make the vision a reality. A manager would know the number of stones to be cut to a specific size to compose the tower. Far more important, a manager knows the amount of time it will take and the best people to do each aspect of the construction.
The Between? Both good Leaders and good Managers are required, to work in collaboration to create an environment where the best and brightest are retained to thrive. A good leader will have good managers around. Good managers gravitate to help make good leaders. That’s right – make good leaders. A leader without good managers is simply a personality cult. On the other hand, an organization can have good managers without good leadership. That environment acts to wear the managers down over time, exhausting them in attempting to hike the shifting sands of a desert until they like the best and the brightest simply walk out and find somewhere to thrive.