Are You a Leader or a Manager?

Source: CPA Trendlines

Following are excerpts from a November 21, 2009, blog post by Rick Telberg, reproduced with permission.

Maybe there was a time the job of a leader and a manager could be completely separated. But in today's tax and accounting firms, where workers are no longer interchangeable cogs in a machine, people look to their managers for more than just assignments, reviews, and approvals. In his 1989 book, “On Becoming a Leader,” Warren Bennis listed the differences between leaders and managers:

• The manager administers; the leader innovates.
• The manager is a copy; the leader is an original.
• The manager maintains; the leader develops.
• The manager focuses on systems and structure; the leader focuses on people.
• The manager relies on control; the leader inspires trust.
• The manager has a short-range view; the leader has a long-range perspective.
• The manager asks how and when; the leader asks what and why.
• The manager has his or her eye always on the bottom line; the leader's eye is on the horizon.
• The manager imitates; the leader originates.
• The manager accepts the status quo; the leader challenges it.
• The manager is the classic good soldier; the leader is his or her own person.
• The manager does things right; the leader does the right thing.

To read the entire post, click here.

From CPA Trendlines, http://cpatrendlines.com, November 21, 2009, “Today's CPA firm needs more than mere ‘managers'.”