#10: Leaders vs Managers
One of the most disputed topics in business
Hey friends,
In this edition, I talk about the following:
the difference between leaders and managers
why you shouldn’t think about business as a zero-sum game
3 tweets I liked
a thread on leadership lessons from “Arnold”
my analog timer
1/ Leaders vs Managers
As I want to migrate almost completely to leadership and project management topics, I will do one deep-”ish” dive into one of these every week.
And I’ll start with one of the hottest discussions online and offline: the difference between a project manager and a leader.
Somehow, people came to the conclusion that project managers are bad and leaders are good. I read a lot of tweets doing this comparison: ” Managers do this, while leaders do that”.
And it’s so wrong, it hurts to see.
Actually, the roles are so intertwined that it’s hard to tell them apart sometimes.
In theory, a leader is someone who has a vision, or an idea, and a manager is someone who implements that idea either through a project or through a continuous operation.
To be more precise, at least according to popular belief, a leader:
inspires and motivates the team
challenges the status quo
encourages creativity
supports innovation
takes risks
On the other hand, the manager:
plans the project timeline
resolves any hurdles
tracks progress
assigns tasks
Steve Jobs is the quintessential leader, while Andy Grove from Intel was probably the closest thing to a perfect manager.
But, in reality, the best leaders are also very good managers, and vice versa.
In today’s world, people who are in leading positions, even entry-level ones, need to play both roles.
If you are a team leader of five engineers, you will plan the teamwork and track the progress. Do you think someone else will come and motivate the people?
No.
Do you think someone else will listen to them and find ways to improve their productivity?
Of course not.
Especially with the new forms of software development, where people choose their own tasks, the manager’s main responsibility is to solve any impediments. And that’s what a leader does.
Another thing to take into consideration is that you can’t make an impact with only ideas. You need execution.
The highest leadership positions are occupied by people who have successfully implemented meaningful projects or transformed organizations. Several times. This means they managed.
A harmonious balance of both managerial and leadership qualities can propel an organization toward success.
Excellent managers can lead by motivating their teams, and great leaders often manage resources effectively to realize their vision.
That’s why I like to call project managers "project Leaders” instead. Because that’s what they really are.
Management and leadership are, after all, two sides of the same coin. And that coin is a role responsible to deliver a product or solution that has a positive impact.
2/ Don’t throw stones when you live in a glass house
I was very surprised this week to see one of the most influential people on Twitter in the “online writing” space accuse another influencer of plagiarism.
It’s very funny because in that “exact language” were phrases like:
“clear not clever”
“specificity is secret”
and other platitudes like that.
This guy got a lot of backslashes for this tweet, and I’m actually surprised he hasn’t deleted it yet. Basically, the guy he attacked, Kieran Drew, is a very nice character who has a lot of friends. And one of them even posted this photo in which Nicolas Cole and his associate plagiarized a sales page for their writing course a lot more blatantly than in this case.
The concept of their course is copied too.
To me, it’s pathetic, and I’m sure the guy just wanted a bit of attention. The internet is not a zero-sum game, there can be many winners. I’m very disappointed, and I’m grateful to have my own tribe online, and we support each other as much as we can.
My advice to you is to get rid of the negative people in your life. They can do no good.
3/ Tweets I liked
3 tweets that made me think, educated me or amused me over the last week.
This one by Misha in which she talks about the 4th industrial revolution and how AI, the Metaverse, and blockchain will be the pillars of this vision
This one is regarding some great Skillshare course
a funny one from Elon:
4/ My own favorite piece of content: Leadership advice from the Arnold documentary
One of the best documentaries I’ve seen lately is “Arnold” on Netflix.
I later found out from my American friends that he is a bit controversial in the US from the time that he was a governor, but still, his determination, motivation and discipline are qualities every leader should have.
That’s why I wrote a thread on the leadership lessons his life could teach us.
I also recommend watching the 3-part documentary for a full picture of his achievements.
5/ Using: analog timer
The Pomodoro technique is one of the productivity methods that works best for me.
It’s simple, you set a timer for 25 minutes in which you work uninterrupted on something and then take a 5-minute break.
You repeat this four times, and then you take a longer break.
I was doing this with my iPhone, but I didn’t like the fact that it was on my table (studies have shown that even having your phone in the same room will mess up your focus).
That’s why I bought an “analog” kitchen timer. It’s not actually analog but electronic, but I call it this way because it’s not smart.
And it works like a charm.
It has a wheel that you use to set the number of minutes and seconds and a button to start the timer.
After the time is up, it will flash and/or make a sound.
And that’s it.
I put my phone away, listen to some music or brain.fm, start the timer, and do my work.
Try it.
You can find the exact model here or you can just look for “kitchen timer” on Amazon or anywhere else.
Thank you for reading, and let me know if you liked something in particular in this newsletter.
Until next time,
Leo
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