George Nemeth · Which are you? Which do you prefer?

January 11th, 2009

From Jack:

Managers are people who see their role as finding new ways of saying no. No to new demands, expectations, and requests. They see themselves as protectors, resucuers, and heroes working overtime keeping themselves and their people from failure. Their definition of success is the lack of failure.

Leaders are people who see their role as finding new ways of saying yes. Yes to new opportunities, dreams, passions, and possibilities. They see themselves as facilitators, making it easier for people to have the permission, support, and capacity to make a difference Their definition of success is abundance of innovation…

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8 Responses to “Which are you? Which do you prefer?”

  1. Rick Bohan Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 6:18 am

    I don’t disagree energetically with these descriptions but the definition of manager here is a bit on the cynical side. It’s one of those definitions that makes us think, “Well, everyone should be a leader then!”

    Managers are often leaders and leaders often need simply to manage. Managers take care of what’s right in front of them. They work in the here and now. Leaders work in the future. Organizations need to do both well in order to thrive.

    The problem can come when, as too often happens, everybody in the organization is simply managing.

  2. Jack Ricchiuto Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 5:07 pm

    Great distinctions Rick, pointing to the fact that growth requires more leadership than management, as we see in the institutions that may be well-managed and produce no significant innovations or resilience to change. I wasn’t implying any cynicism on the manager definition because an organization’s ability to say no is as important as its ability to say yes.

  3. Rick Bohan Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    Jack said

    “…growth requires more leadership than management, as we see in the institutions that may be well-managed and produce no significant innovations or resilience to change.”

    Agreed.

  4. Elaine Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 7:27 pm

    Let’s take it to the edges (yes, a “boundary value” problem):

    A leader who says yes to everything often creates a situation where it is untenable to support them; impossible to follow them; yet still live within the fable of greatness.

    A manager who says no to everything creates a situation where there is nothing innovative to support; drives down the morale of those who might follow them; creates a legacy of stagnation in a world of change.

    The trick is to find the sweet spot where everyone thrives.

    “As for me?” George asks. I’ve followed both; led both…and find myself a bit of both. I constantly ask myself the question: “How can we say yes? Under what context is yes the answer for this question where the first answer is no? Let’s create that context.”

  5. Phil Lane Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 9:01 pm

    I have a colleague at a university, English is not among his first four languages. I have always been inspired by his response to concerns I once had long ago over IP and licensing. His thoughtful reply, in a rich accent; “We are not here today to discuss what we cannot do, these, what is it, the attorneys, yes?, will tell us that. We are only here to discuss what we can do, now, together.”

    And so it is.

  6. Heidi Cool Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 10:55 pm

    Peter Drucker once said, “People who don’t take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. People who do take risks generally make about two big mistakes a year. ”

    Tom Peters said “Fear of failure or blame culture penalizes and discourages initiative.”

    These successful leaders knew that risk-taking is a necessary aspect of progress. So I go with the people who say yes. It will lead to some failures but in the long-run it creates new opportunities for growth. Saying No, as a matter of course, leads to stagnation.

    Yes, there are times when past experience tells us that a particular idea won’t work, but such “no’s” should be based on solid experience rather than a merely rigid stance. No matter where we sit on the food chain I think it behooves us all to accept that there may be good ideas out there and we should listen to the possibilities with an open mind before saying yay or nay.

  7. Jack Ricchiuto Says:
    January 12th, 2009 at 11:54 pm

    Saying yes is affirmation of the truth of an idea, validity of an action, wisdom of a learning, authenticity of an intention. The more we affirm, the more good we create. Yes to leaders, yes from leaders.

  8. Frank Z. Revy Says:
    January 14th, 2009 at 11:16 am

    By those definitions – I guess I’m a failed manager.