Much has been written about leadership and management and yet in business these two aspects of steering a business in the right direction are often confused or shrouded in mystery! In this blog entry I want to give you a quick overview of the differences based on the work of John Paul Kotter (born 1947) a professor at the Harvard Business School and author, who is regarded as an authority on leadership and change management. As a student of business you may well want to know more and so, as always, you are invited to ask questions. Those of you who are Rainmaker Inner Circle members can download the whitepaper on the subject which will be on the website later this week.

Kotter puts management and leadership into five different dimensions to illustrate the differences between these two essential disciplines. These five dimensions are:

1. Direction.
2. Alignment.
3. Relationships.
4. Personal qualities.
5. Outcomes.

For my first few years in business I gave this subject no thought at all and now, with the benefit of hindsight, I can see the negative impact this had on some of the projects I worked on. Later in my career as a CEO for a number of US and UK based businesses I used this information to make sure that I had a means of developing the leadership and management skills of my team, I also used this to assist me in the recruitment and succession planning for the businesses and I urge you to do the same.

Direction: In management this is planning and budgeting and then keeping an eye on the bottom line. In leadership this is creating the vision and the strategy and keeping an eye on the horizon.

Alignment: For managers this is organising and staffing, directing and controlling and the creation of boundaries. For leadership, the creation of a shared culture and vision. It's about helping others grow and reducing the boundaries that restrict growth.

Relationships: Managers should be focussed on objects and products, selling of goods and services and acting as the boss. The leadership is about focusing on inspiring people, motivating followers based on personal power as well as acting as a coach and facilitator. 

Personal Qualities: Managers must keep an emotional distance, be expert in their field, be good communicators, promote conformity and have insight into the organisation. Leaders on the other hand need to have emotional connections, be open minded, be good at listening and have courage not to conform.

Outcomes: The manager is there to maintain stability while the leader should be creating change which can often be radical. 

Inner Circle members can request the full white paper on this subject.