Are you a manager or a leader?

"Warren Bennis, one of today's most prolific writers on the subject of leadership and management, makes a clear distinction between leadership and management in his book On becoming a leader. The manager, according to Bennis, is preoccupied with doing right things. That is, the manager is focussed on following procedures and gaining compliance from those she manages. It is a role in which the successful execution of established practices and adherence to standard policies determine the effective manager. On the other hand, the leader Bennis argues, is concerned with doing the right things. Rather than simply executing existing procedures and gaining compliance with accepted procedures, the true leader will first question whether or not the accepted procedures are the right thing to do. The true leader is the one who may determine that existing practices are no longer moving the organization in the direction of its vision and mission and create a whole new set of procedures and practices. Rather than being content to transact business within the parameters of the existing paradigm, the leader looks to transform the existing system into something more effective. In essense, according to Bennis, leadership is by very nature transformational not transactional."

Leading from the Inside Out (The Art of Self-leadership) by Samuel D. Rima