Sunday, February 12, 2012

MANAGEMENT AND LEADERSHIP

This comes from "The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Stephen R. Covey.  I have been asked if I could recommend one, and only one book for anyone to read, what would it be?  This one is it -- it will make you a better coach, a better parent, a better spouse, a better employee.  Here is what Covey has to say about the coexistence of management and leadership:

Management is a bottom line focus: How can I best accomplish certain things?  Leadership deals with the top line: What are the tings I want to accomplish?  In the words of both Peter Drucker and Warren Bennis, "Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things."

We are more in need of a vision or destination and a compass (a set of principles or directions) and less in need of a road map.  In inner compass will always give us direction.

Efficient management without effective leadership is, and one individual has phrased it, "like straightening deck chairs on the Titanic."  No management success can compensate for failure in leadership.  But leadership is hard because we're often caught in a management paradigm.