Steven Covey wrote, “Management works in the system. Leadership works on the system.” Leading up to the 2012 presidential election, President Barack Obama suggested that his first three years were off target to the extent that he thought that getting policy right and people right would fix everything. He admitted that he had at times failed to keep on sharing the dream.
Many leaders face the same temptation. It is easy to confuse management and leadership. It is easy to think that the job of a leader is to get the policies and procedures right, to get the right people in place, and to pay close attention to personal relationships and people connections. These are essential and leaders must at times pay attention to management details, but leadership ultimately fails without dream telling and vision casting. Where are we going? How will the future be different from the past? What opportunities will we seize? How will we overcome the challenges? How will we adjust in a rapidly changing world?
I am thankful for managers who work on HR policies, budgets, and financial stability. I am thankful for managers who help in the development of right attitudes and healthy relationships. Every organization needs a good Chief Operating Officer (COO). But ultimately, the health and future of the organization depends on having a good Chief Executive Officer (CEO) who dreams the dream, sees the vision, sharpens the mission, and shapes the future by sharing a vision of how exciting and bold the future can be. That is the difference between operational management that does things right and executive leadership that does the right things to carry out the mission and follow through on the dream.