The document discusses the distinct yet complementary roles of leaders and managers in a business context, emphasizing that both are essential for success. Leaders are characterized by their vision, ability to inspire and innovate, while managers focus on organization, detail, and short-term goal achievement. The text also highlights the importance of self-awareness in understanding one's strengths and building effective teams.

1. Leaders & Managers: Both Roles Are Critical to Your
Business Success
By Todd Palmer, CEO, Extraordinary Advisors
In business, goals and objectives need to be reached. Often times, it is the leader who sets the
vision of those goals and the manager who leads the team to accomplish the tasks required to
attain those goals. Ideally in small to mid-sized businesses, there is one leader and one manager.
These roles are embodied by the CEO (visionary) and the COO (integrator).
However, rarely is business ideal…most of us when we are starting out have to wear the leader hat
one moment and the manager hat in the next moment.
If you are wondering which you are; a leader or a manager, consider the following differences
between the roles.
Leaders inspire, motivate and encourage their employees. They coach people and drive the
organization to new heights. In order to do that, they must:
▪ Have Commitment to a vision- The best leaders have a vision of where they want the business
to go, as well as why the business should go there. Steve Jobs at Apple and Elon Musk at Tesla
are but two examples. They are iron-willed regarding where they wanted their businesses to go
and how they wanted their businesses to change the world. Their main role was to inspire their
employees to buy into that vision, and follow them to greater levels achievement. They did not
accept excuses well and challenged employees to exceed their self-imposed limits.
▪ Be Inspiring communicators- leaders are self-aware and work actively to build their unique and
differentiated personal brand within the organization. They are comfortable in their own shoes
and willing to stand out. They’re authentic and transparent and at times, vulnerable. This level
of authenticity is both inspirational and aspirational. The focus in their messaging is about
achievement, and they rarely concern themselves with being popular with the staff.
▪ Focus on positivity- Leaders paint a picture of what they see as possible and inspire and engage
their people in turning that vision into reality. They think beyond what individuals do. They
activate people to be part of something bigger. They know that high-functioning teams can
accomplish a lot more working together than individuals working autonomously.
▪ Creative change agents- They embrace change and know that even if things are working, there
could be a better way forward. And, they understand and accept the fact that changes to the
system often create waves. When the business is struggling or underperforming, they are
willing to dig deep into systems and evaluate people, often making changes to both. While they
may not always enjoy the chaos that changes bring, they revel in the thought of a brighter,
more successful future.

2. ▪ Life Long Learners- Leaders know if they aren’t learning something new every day, they aren’t
standing still, they’re falling behind. They remain curious and seek to remain relevant in an
ever-changing world of work. They seek out people and information that will expand their
thinking. They attend seminars, they listen to podcasts, they engage with coaches and
consultants. Mark Cuban, for example, reads 4 to 6 hours per day, investing in expanding his
knowledge and looking for the one new idea that will inspire him and his companies to be all
they can be.
Managers plan, organize, direct and coordinate talent and resources.
▪ Must be detailed and organized, above all else- Managers must be organized. Management of
employees, customers, internal and external resources, is made up of many moving parts, and
they cannot be handled on the fly. Managers crave CRM’s and other software’s to measure the
company performance on a granular level.
▪ Focused on constant improvement- Managers constantly review what works, refining systems,
structures and processes to make them better. Whereas, leaders will make sweeping changes,
managers focus on the consistent improvement of people and systems.
▪ Short-term goal driven- Managers focus on setting, measuring and achieving goals 30-day, 90-
day and 1-year goals. They control situations to reach or exceed their objectives. In many
organizations, financial bonuses are tied to achieving these goals.
▪ Delegation- Managers assign tasks to staff and provide guidance on how to accomplish them.
Similar to leaders, they recognize that it takes a team of people to execute a plan, not rugged
individuals.
▪ Mentoring & training- Managers, because they often work with employees so closely, will
mentor and train people they believe in.
▪ Clear and direct communication- Being able to manage is being able to communicate what you
need to who needs to do it.
The reality is that both leaders and managers are needed for a company to grow and thrive. It takes
a high level of self-awareness to know which your natural tendency is, and which is not. It is the
wise business person who hires the employee best suited to compliment their strengths. By putting
aside pride and ego, and building out a highly functioning team, a company can attain great heights
of success.
When you work with our leadership speakers, you will increase the success of your business and
recruitment efforts. Our core job is to help our clients run their businesses with confidence for
business acceleration and organizational development.
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