Supply Chain Management Review

Robert A. Rudzki

Leadership versus Management - I
February 29, 2008

In late January, a reader posted his concern about his Chief Procurement Officer. Here is what he or she wrote:

“My CPO does not lead the Procurement Council and only participates when asked to present a topic. His claim is that he does not want to inhibit the discussion or cause members to be shy or hold back. This is a huge problem in my opinion, as he is missing out on the information exchange and hearing directly from procurement leaders in the field.”

My response was: “It sounds like your CPO is more an "administrator" rather than a leader. Do you think he understands the difference? (We'll cover that topic in a future column.) And, perhaps more importantly, whose fault is it that a non-leader was placed in a leadership role? The person who was put in the job, those who placed him there, or both?”

The subject of leadership, and how it differs from management, has been a favorite topic of mine over the years. Why? It’s a key factor that distinguishes successful organizations from those that will ultimately fail. (For a thorough discussion of this important subject, see Chapter 6 in the book Beat the Odds: Avoid Corporate Death & Build a Resilient Enterprise.)

Getting back to the reader’s post, and my response, there is a meaningful difference between leadership and management. As highlighted in the Figure below, leadership is about successfully guiding and creating change. Management is about coping with complexity. Both sets of skills are important in guiding an organization to success, but it is the rare person who is good at both.

FIGURE

                        Leadership versus Management - An Important Distinction

            Leadership                                                        Management

Create change                                                   Control complexity

Set new direction                                               Develop plans

Create strategy                                                  Allocate resources

Align people                                                      Organize and staff

Promote positive outcomes                                 Prevent negative outcomes

Empower people and processes                          Control people/processes

Source: Based on materials from John Kotter, Harvard University, and also Carol and Jack Weber, University of Virginia Darden School of Business

More on leadership in my next posting.

Posted by Robert A. Rudzki on February 29, 2008 | Comments (0)