Reply to: RE>Bosses vs. Leaders LO5420
It's always attracting when there's a matrix or list or set of equations
posted to us. Such typing is often easier to read and quickly digest than
the long paragraphs I personally am prone to write!
Ginger's posting from yesterday presented the thoughts of Warren Bennis in
which one author's views of the essence of bosses, managers and leaders
are juxtaposed.
Reading down the list, I grew a little uneasy, because like most of us, I
eschew categorization. Even at its broadest, tagging organizational types
has pitfalls.
I was really please to read Ginger's penultimate sentence: "The importance
here is, leaders are imperative, and we need managers." Absolutely. The
types of behavior which Bennis juxtaposes may in fact be desirable if
combined in one individual who knows when to manifest them.
While it's sometimes the case that in relatively large and often more
complex organizations titular leaders are forewarned against
micromanagement--they should carry the banners of vision and enthusiasm,
but not get their hands terribly dirty in details--leaders do actually
exist in all levels. And the best may sometimes combine the qualities of
leader AND manager, where "manager" in Bennis' model is the "how and when"
person. We need those people, too.
I'm certain we all know of such combination people at work.
Thanks for your thoughts, Ginger.
Best regards,
-- Barry Mallis bmallis@markem.comLearning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>