“We are all faced with great opportunities disguised as impossible situations. The key is to know where you are going and why.”

1. Leaders vs Managers
“We are all faced with great
opportunities disguised as
impossible situations. The
key is to know where you
are going and why.”
1
Jean Erickson Walker, Ed.D., CMF
jean@jeanericksonwalker.com
503-816-5956

2. 2
Functional differences
“The primary function of leadership is to create
strategically directed change in order to
achieve a vision worth achieving.
The primary function of management is to see
that the goals and objectives required to
implement this vision are accomplished.”
Learning to Lead, Warren Bennis & Joan Goldsmith

3. 3
“Leaders, I thought to myself, are
individuals who make ordinary people
do extraordinary things in the face of
adversity.”
Andrew Grove, Intel

4. 4
The Leader’s focus
• Vision
• Mission
• Big picture/global view
• Risk taking
• Innovation
• Customers
• Opportunities

5. 5
Leaders as architects
• Visualize the unknown and make it real
• Motivate and persuade people to seek the
future
• Comfortable with ambiguity and change
• Challenge = opportunity
• Enthusiasm/energy/quick decision maker

6. 6
Why leaders fail
1. Shift in focus
2. Poor communication
3. Risk aversion
4. Ethics slip
5. Poor self management
6. Lost love
Why Leaders Fail, article by Mark Sanborn

7. 7
Command and Control?
“ Leaders resort to the Command and Control
model when they are…..scared. That is:
scared as hell that followers will figure out
that they (the leaders) don’t have a clue as to
what-the-hell-is-going-on.”
Great leaders on snorting steeds are
important…but great talent developers are
the bedrock of organizations that perform
over the long haul.”
Tom Peters

8. 8
Why are some leaders more successful
than others?
Ability to engage others in shared vision
Distinctive and compelling presence
Integrity; strong sense of values
Adaptive capacity; ability to transcend
adversity and emerge stronger than before

9. 9
A vision must…
• Be worth reaching
• Stretch us beyond our known limits
• Require action
• Match our values
• Involve calculated risk
• Engage our hearts and spirits
“ A vision creates an overpowering urge to soar among the
eagles.”

10. Good to Great, Author, Jim
Collins
“Leadership is about fearless resolve,
an almost stoic determination to do
whatever needs to be done to make
the company great.”

11. 11
“Most losing
organizations are
over-managed and
under-led. Their
managers
accomplish the
wrong things
beautifully and
efficiently.
They climb the
wrong walls.”
Warren Bemis

12. 12
Managers vs Leaders
• Leaders take us to places we wouldn’t have gone
alone;
Managers ensure that we get there safely.
• Leaders walk ahead and see the future;
Managers walk behind and “herd” us to the
future.
“Leading is about why; Managing is about how.”

13. 13
The Manager’s Role and Focus
• Goals
• Scope of responsibility
• Short term objectives
• Risk control
• Efficiency
• Employees
• Organization/structure/process

14. 14
Unlock the key
“Managers play a vital and distinct role, a
role that charismatic leaders and self-
directed teams are incapable of playing.
The manager’s role is to reach inside
each employee and release his unique
talents into performance.”
First Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman

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Managers are not just leaders-in-waiting
Great managers look inward;
Great leaders look outward.
Great managers are not mini-executives waiting
for leadership to be thrust upon them.
Great leaders are not simply managers who
have developed sophistication.
The core activities of a manager and a leader
are simply different.
First Break All the Rules, Marcus Buckingham & Curt Coffman

16. 16
Managers as builders
• Understand and implement blueprints
• Identify potential obstacles and overcome them
• Make people feel safe
• Create clarity and structure
• Challenge = Conquer and solve
• Solid/stable/certain

17. 17
Managers provide
• Sense of community/ belonging
• Learning and growth
• Opportunity to become more/be more/have more
• Fun
• Pride in accomplishment
• Interesting work
• Stability

18. 18
Why are some managers more
successful than others?
• Create safe zone
• Communicate clearly, effectively, often
• Fair/consistent
• Knowledgeable/a resource
• Provide structure, processes,
clear direction
• Likeable
• Empathetic

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Managers of the future
From…..
• Organizing tasks to setting outcomes
• Hiring, firing to recruiting, retaining
• Climbing ladders to owning careers
• Command, control to creating cultures
• Technical experts to resource managers
• Hierarchy to strategic alliances
• Doing to anticipating
• Certainty to curiosity
“Never confuse process with progress.”

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Port in the storm
Managers succeed through other people. They
are effective when people believe they are
safe with them, and that they will be better off
because they are there.
Managers create a gently
flowing stream,
a port in the storm.

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Wake up call?
“I wake up every morning
determined both to change the world
and have one hell of a good time.
Sometimes this makes planning
the day a little difficult.”
E.B. White

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Questions?
• What personal qualities do I have that enable me to be a
successful leader? Effective manager?
• What are the elements of my personal style and
personality that are challenges to being a successful
leader? Effective manager?
• How do I encourage or sabotage my own leadership
success? Management effectiveness?
• What are the resources that will help me to become more
successful? How do I obtain them?
• Where is my natural talent?
• What portion of my time needs to be spent in each role?

23. Leaders and Managers
Ask Yourself:
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• Is it the right thing to do?
• Is it fair to everyone?
• Does it fit our mission and
goals?
• Does it move us forward

24. We judge ourselves by our intentions;
others judge us by our actions.
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Jean Erickson Walker, Ed.D., CMF
jean@jeanericksonwalker.com