Management vs leadership

We are living in a world choked by management and what we need are leaders.

I wrote this 3 years ago almost to the day and it seems to be even more apt now given the lack of leadership within corporations, businesses and governments.

Management corrodes, leadership nourishes

The system loves management, it enables efficiency, it maximises the return from all of the assets.

Management is control, is fear, is catching out, is replacing trust with systems, is removing creativity, is imposing compliance, is organising assets, is anti-human. It is the corrosion of people.

Leadership is not about authority, it is about inspiration, about trust, empathy, inclusiveness, is about creating safe environments, is about the human, not the asset. Leadership is about everyone, not the leader, it is about putting people first. It is about collaboration, not coercion.

We do not need more management, we need true leadership. We need to break out and try creating organisations that truly inspire, that make people feel good, trusted, appreciated and worthy.

It takes a brave person to lead and a weak person to manage and control.

No one needs more being told what to do, they need more appreciation of what they do right. No one tires of good feedback, support, understanding, being made to feel worthy and trusted. Most importantly, no one ever gets tired of being praised.

It is that simple, but it requires all of us to take on the responsibility of being leaders and being the change we want to see.

Management is corrosive, we all flourish under true leadership.

It’s all been said

Saying something new is a challenge for us all. Everything has been said. It’s a challenge for writers, musicians, artists…well, everyone actually.

However, this is true only to a certain extent.

Where we add value is taking all the influences that we experience and then adding our view of it. What each of us experience is unique to our own journey and the more adventure we add to the path, the more diverse our experiences are. Therefore, have more to add value to.

Simply repeating others is stealing, but adding our take is where the value comes. Our own unique world view is where the difference is.

We each have an opportunity to add that value and there is where we can say something new.