Great Leader vs. Great Manager Is There A Difference?

When you are confident that you are a good Manager, does that mean that you are automatically a good Leader? Leadership should not be considered to be the same as management. They are different, yet not in the way most people presuppose. Leadership is not something that requires a specific personality profile, such as one requiring charm or a sense of inquisitiveness. Leadership is not a replacement for management nor is it to be thought of as being even better than management. Leadership and management are two distinctly different systems that must both be alive and complimentary in every successful organization. Management is more about system interactions, processes and accountability that keep the organization running. Leadership is directly responding to change and the use of it applied to improving or supporting others.

The challenge is to combine great leadership with great management, skillfully balancing the two. Do you see your company as being over managed and under led? Are you developing your leadership capacity? Additionally, have you identified someone within your organization as the next leader?

Has "Telling" Crippled Your Leadership Effectiveness

Many leaders grow up knowing the answer or how to find the answer. It starts in early childhood and all the scaffolding in school and the workplace simply supports this model. You seek out the approval of others by getting the answer right. This feeling of approval becomes addictive.

If you are feeling that pull to be the smartest in the room, the most informed, the one ready to provide the answer, you must first admit you are suffering from this intoxicating high before you can discover what many great leaders have discovered. It is all about the question! Shouldn't you start asking?


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The “Double McTwist 1260” Leadership Model

Tell me you did not just overflow with pride as the world watched Olympian Shawn White dance with excitement as he stood on top of the halfpipe in Vancouver this week. He learned he won gold before he’d even taken his final run.

Live coverage allowed the world to be up close and intimate with the processes and decisions that were being made between Shawn and his coaches. Why had they come to Vancouver? To win gold for the second time, right? Or was it about performance and delivering the best product? "Once you're at the top of the pipe," he said, "everything changes." Quickly the decision was made that the gold medal level-winning run that he’d delivered earlier simply was not enough, "I always felt like I wanted to put everything on the table. That's what that last run was about: showing everyone in the world on this big stage what I could do." Despite all the emotion of the moment, his values and the values of the team drove them to the simple conclusion: Go for it, put down the move, and stick the landing.

I see patterns here that show up in how other good leaders conduct themselves daily. Expecting exceptional performance and celebrating achievements are very important, but Just Ask Leaders look beyond the current situation for the questions that will push themselves and others to the next level, discovering new challenges that will elevate them and their teams to a higher sense of accomplishment.

Shawn rose to the new challenge. He soared into the pipe, generated adrenaline with his first four moves, and then nailed the Double McTwist 1260, with big air, full rotation, and a clean landing. Saucy! Later, Shawn said: “"I could have just run straight down the middle of the pipe, which would have been cool. I took the other route."

As a leader, how often do you consider the “other route”?

Consider including the Double McTwist 1260 in your leadership model.

Leadership Assessment Demo

Kindle will be publishing Just Ask Leadership Blog Daily

Just Ask Leadership (the book) has been available on Kindle for the past 9 weeks.

Now you can receive Just Ask Leadership Blog on your Kindle as well!

Huge Event In New York At 21 Club Anounces 2nd Printing

Having a Book Event in New York is great fun! If I would have known writing a book could be so much fun I still would have waited - it is a lot of work to get there. As my neighbor Marshall Besikof says, "It took them twenty years to be an over night success."

The night of the party was just a couple of days before my birthday. Marcy Syms decided to surprise me with a huge cake with the cover of the book on it. I took the candle out as not to promote N1H1. Standing with us is Ken Clark CEO of 1-800-Translate, and Regina Lombardi Senior VP with Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Marcy Syms, of Syms Clothing Store and now Filene's Basement (you may know Filene's because they have the annual Running of the Brides much like Spain's running of the bulls, but way more classy) threw a great event last night at the 21 Club. It was such an honor to be having a celebration of the second printing of Just Ask Leadership (McGraw Hill 2009) after only two months. Just yesterday I was officially informed by Mary Glenn at the New York Celebration that we are going to have the second printing. What is so satisfying about this - is that when I asked if this is expected, her response as always very straight forward and honest, 'It is always hoped for when we choose a book and an author to work with that we will have this success and you should feel very good because not all authors get there.'

This was a great celebration and totally fun! It was good to see old friends, and meet new ones. Tereasa McBride is CEO of Avant Films and founder of College Bound (Prior founded McBride and Associates, Inc., in 1986), Marcy, Myself and Tom Gottleib CEO of Two's Company.

There were so many people at the event to celebrate and spread the word of Just Ask Leadership!

Questions Leaders Ask - BEL Radio interview

Leadership - How to ask the right questions

Question-based leadership only works if managers don't provide all the answers. Here's how to focus on being a facilitator, not an oracle

by Gary Cohen

What are the right questions for leaders to ask?

Like notorious law school professors who interrogate their students until the "truth" appears, many business leaders hold meetings where they pepper employees with rapid-fire questions. But too often managers' questions are designed to show off their own knowledge rather than actually solicit new information or ideas.

Question-based leadership is certainly preferable to the command-and-control model but not when.... Read Full Article in BusinessWeek.

Leadership - How to ask the right questions

What are the right questions for leaders to ask?

Like notorious law school professors who interrogate their students until the "truth" appears, many business leaders hold meetings where they pepper employees with rapid-fire questions. But too often managers' questions are designed to show off their own knowledge rather than actually solicit new information or ideas.

Question-based leadership is certainly preferable to the command-and-control model but not when