Seth Godin’s View on Leadership vs Management
In the rapidly changing world, leaders are the people that we need to take with us into the future and not managers.
But it is not easy to swap management with leadership because management has been around for over a century. Moreover, it has worked well with developing things and showing progress. We can see improvement in terms of productivity and efficiency.
The best selling author and entrepreneur Seth Godin had a presentation at the Nordic Business Forum in Stockholm, where he talked about the differences between management and leadership. He addressed people’s confusion and why the world needs more leaders.
“When the world changes, management always fails because we don’t understand how to go forward.”
He explained how management vs leadership is entirely different. The top-down control dates back to the era of Henry Ford. It was when companies created value by getting employees to do the same things repeatedly. And this method works just fine until it does not, in his words. “And that works… Until it doesn’t,” Godin comments. What is a Conversational Growth Strategy?
He wants people to understand that managers need authority over people, whereas leaders tend to take responsibility. Managers tell people what to do and expect them to do it. In contrast, leaders inspire people to follow their own will. Leaders are to solve problems even if they are not on your agenda, but managers are slaves to their agenda.
“We don’t educate people, We don’t teach them to solve interesting problems, We don’t teach them to lead,” Godin says. This is how people develop the fear of failure.
How To Go For Excellence
According to Seth Godin- “Management is different from leadership. Leadership is only possible with the enrolment of the people you are leading.”
His belief is the same as the principle of Henry Ford, which is; Do it, do it again, do it again and do it again. Seth believes that time can make a difference but also says that this may work – until it doesn’t anymore.
On the other hand, if we talk about leadership, it is all about taking responsibility and risking something unorthodox and new. The difference in management and leadership boils down to ‘Do This’ management vs ‘Let’s Go’ leadership. Here instead of giving direct orders to workers, leaders ask for volunteers to embark on visionary projects. How Do Coaching and Mentoring Contribute to Leadership Development
Seth uses office work and business meetings as his example.
“What is the purpose of them?” he asks. “In reality, meetings are for weeding out everyone else until someone finally takes the responsibility. Participants are absolving themselves, one by one. Otherwise, we would send a memo.”
One more core difference that leadership and management have is the willingness to take responsibility if things go wrong.
“Lean means wrong. You are willing to be wrong; that’s all it means.”
Lead The Future Generation
He says that we are suffering from a shortage as only a few people have figured out what they are capable of and when something unplanned happens, he puts the blame on the school system.
“The industrialists invented school. The point is to make people compliant; we need to educate people. We don’t teach them to solve interesting problems. We don’t teach them to lead.”
What if you showed up as a human one day, not just a pawn in the corporate system? Godin asks.
“Excellence is this: What would a human who cares to do in this situation? Leaders solve interesting problems, even if they’re not on the agenda.”
Godin is more famous as the management guru, and he says that we are not making any progress because we are afraid. More than bringing change, we want to avoid taking responsibility if something goes wrong.
He also addresses writer’s block when a creative person fears failure. He quickly pointed out that plumbers don’t get plumber’s block! We face the same problem-
“Let’s face it: Leadership is not something you’re born with. You decide to do it,” he says.
Godin talks about the traditional workplace, where managers use emotions as a driver to get things done from us. They use anger, shame, and fear to get you to do their work. But he says that we do not have to live like this anymore.
“Quitting is for winners, not losers. With every new project, there’s a lot of excitement in the beginning. Inevitably, it starts to suck. Everyone joins the gym in January but quits by April. Never quit in the dip! Assess your situation at the start: do I have enough resources? – and quit then. Or at the end: ‘I made it through, but that’s not for me’ – but don’t quit after things go sour for the first time,” he said.
Read more: Growth Mindset and Leadership
If a person is a good leader, he does not get derailed by failure, but if that is not an option, then neither is a success. Leaders know that there is no correct answer or a bar graph showing the rising profits. They are aware of their path and the time it will take for the process. The possibility of something can even fail a leader’s maturity and willingness to take responsibility and call the shots.
Good leaders are those who use empathy with customers and employees. They seek the capabilities of others and what all of us want to do.
This is how the world presents its future leaders “Care enough to lead us where we need to go”.
How can ActionCOACH help you with leadership and management?
Like the marketing guru Seth Godin, we at ActionCOACH are also in the niche of directing people to the things you can do for your business to make them flourish. We understand the difference in leadership vs marketing and will be more than happy to convey it according to your business model.
Contact us today at 01442 773310 or email westherts@actioncoach.co.uk for a FREE business coaching session.
