Leaders vs. managers

Don't conflate the two.

• Leaders stake their credibility on their decisions, and abide by the consequences--expected as well as unintentional.
  
• Leaders understand the full-time balancing act between the man and the mission (to couch it in military terms).
  
• Leaders understand that giving subordinates responsibility without authority is not, by any stretch of fevered imagination, "delegation."
• Leaders get the truly useful information (a.k.a. the bad news) as quickly as (perhaps more quickly than) the good news.
  
• Leaders are not threatened by superior skill or raw brain-power, because they don't mistake either for leadership.
• Leaders keep a part of their brain reserved for what-comes-next while dealing with here-and-now realities.
  

That's not to say that someone who carries the title of "Manager" isn't actually a leader. Sometimes leaders carry no title at all. (To me, they're the truly interesting sub-species.) But I'm becoming cynical enough to think that the safest rule of thumb is to consider anyone with a title as "Manager" until proven otherwise.

I'm sure that the leader vs. manager dichotomy's been dissected to death (and the bones picked clean) over the years. I'm only leaving my own flogger-print on the proverbial horse-carcass because today I found myself staring down into the gulf that separates the two. Fortunately, our contact should be minimal.