Management development – How to become leader

There are two ways to run a company. There is the traditional way of managing employees to do assigned tasks that fit within a job description. Then there is the way of leading a coterie – a set of people with the same ideals, to an end goal; where a company recruits rather than hires. Organizations today need leaders, not managers.

What is Management

The development of managing came about during the Industrial Revolution. People moved from the country side farms to cities. They left their shovels in the field to be assigned to an assembly line. Business developed a new practice, management; a way to efficiently organize repetitive work and hamper originality.

Times have changed, and now what businesses need is just the opposite. Businesses need originality; they need employees to question authority. An organization afraid of change today is stuck. Remarkable, new and original sell – normal and “pretty good” do not.

The days of management as a style of leadership are over. Management development today is the process of becoming a leader – not a manager.

What is Leadership

Leadership is the act of conducting, guiding and leading. If remarkable sells – then every organization should reward those within it that challenge the status quo.

Leaders endorse those who inspire the group to be better. Leaders realize that it is not about being an authority. They instead realize that they are to simply facilitate the medium of which makes their organization great. They reward those who pursue great no matter what. They guide their following.

Build a Following – Become a Leader

For those not familiar with Seth Godin’s work, a “tribe” is what is referenced here as a following. A following is the entirety of those standing with a leader. They [the following] are not below the leader, but rather stand with them.

Employees who are managed have no incentive to see the organization succeed. Followers are part of a tribe – something bigger than themselves and their leader. A good leader commends their following.

Leaders recruit great people (who are probably smarter and more capable than them!) on the premise that they can benefit the group. Leaders do not hire to fill a job description.

Become a leader. Build a faithful following not for one’s self, but rather for the greater good of everyone. Lead an organization into innovation by empowering a following.