The Difference between a Leader and a Manager

Leaders are people who do the right thing; managers are people who do things right.

The main difference between leaders and managers is that leaders have people follow them
while managers have people who work for them.

Manager – An employee of the organization, responsible for its management. Leader – A person
who leads, guides, and directs others. In an organizational setup, a manager is an important link
between the firm and its stakeholders, i.e. employees, customers, suppliers, shareholders,
government, society, and so forth. He/She is the one who performs basic managerial functions.

Conversely, a leader is the one who inspires, encourages, and influences his/her men, to work
willingly, in the achievement of the organization’s objectives. The two are not one and the same
thing; however, one can only become a successful manager, when he/she is an effective leader.

Leadership is a skill, and the person who possesses this ability is known as a Leader. On the
other hand, Management is a discipline, and the practitioner of this discipline is known as the
Manager.

A leader refers to a person who leads others in a specific situation and is capable of heading the
group towards the accomplishment of the ultimate goal by making strategies to pursue and
reach.

A leader has a vision, who inspires people, in such a way that it becomes their vision.

Further, the leader can be any person having the potential to influence others, like a manager of
an organization, or head of the family, or a captain of a team, or a minister of a state, or a leader
in an informal group.

A successful business owner needs to be both a strong leader and manager to get their team on
board to follow them towards their vision of success. Leadership is about getting people to
understand and believe in your vision and to work with you to achieve your goals while managing
is more about administering and making sure the day-to-day things are happening as they
should.

Qualities of a Leader

A leader has many qualities, some of them are listed hereunder:

• Foresightedness: To predict and make plans for the future.

• Intelligence: To integrate and interpret relevant information.
• Creativity: To have unique, innovative, and original thinking.
• Enthusiasm: To remain energetic, show interest, and think positively.
• Charisma: To attract and influence people.
• Decisiveness: To take quick and appropriate decisions.
• Self Confidence: To trust their competencies and have confidence in their abilities.
• Bravery: To take the first move, to bring change in certain situations.

Types of Leader

There are mainly four types of leader:

• Transactional Leader: These leaders use social exchanges to influence followers, i.e. they
motivate by rewarding the subordinates for their productivity and this motivates them to work
towards the achievement of the goal.

• Transformational Leader: Such leaders encourage and awaken followers to make efforts in
achieving extraordinary outcomes. He/She is someone who comes forward to change things.

• Charismatic Leader: He/She is one such leader whose energy, enthusiasm, and charisma often
motivate people to behave in a specific manner. He/She derives the power from exemplary
character and heroism.

• Visionary Leader: Visionary Leader is the one who has the potential to develop and pursue the
vision, which is not just realistic but achievable too. He/She possesses psychological
attractiveness, due to which people get influenced towards the leader’s dreams.

Main Differences:

• A leader is someone who guides and leads other people. On the other hand, a manager is
someone who is responsible for the management of the organization. He looks after the day-to-
day operations. .

• While a leader performs just one function of management, i.e. providing direction, a manager
performs all the functions of the management, i.e. planning, organizing, staffing, directing, and
controlling.

• When it comes to the origination of authority, a leader possesses informal authority by virtue of
his/her personal qualities – knowledge, skills, and abilities. As against, a manager has formal
authority, due to his designation or position in the organization.

• A leader has a proactive approach, as he/she can predict future events and takes preventive
actions in advance, whereas a manager has a reactive approach, and so he/she waits for the
right time to take the action.

• A leader can be found in both formal and informal setup, i.e. in a business organization, and an
informal group i.e. a family, friend circle, etc. In contrast, a manager can be found in a formal
setup only i.e. in a business organization only.

• To become a leader, one requires leadership qualities, whereas to become a manager one
needs to possess both leadership as well as managerial qualities.

• Followers comply with the leader’s instructions because of their own will, whereas employees
comply with the instructions and orders of the manager, because of the role authority of the
manager.

• The key attribute of a leader is foresightedness, while that of a manager is quick decision-
making regarding various matters and coordination of different activities and tasks effectively.

• A leader has followers who follow him, whereas a manager has employees, in the form of
subordinates who reports to the manager about the day-to-day activities.

• The manager uses rewards and punishments to motivate employees. As against, a leader
inspires his subordinates to bring change in their behavior so that they can achieve the desired
goal.

• A manager strives for efficiency, i.e. performing the tasks and activities in the right manner, and
completing them in a stipulated time, while adhering to all the rules. Conversely, a leader strives
for effectiveness, i.e. doing the right thing.

• A leader focuses on the people, whereas a manager focuses on the processes and workflows.

• The manager always tries to avoid conflict, as he/she believes that it is going to prevent the
activities and growth of the organization. In contrast, a leader uses conflict as an asset so as to
provoke people to do better than others.

• A leader aims at motivating and inspiring people. Oppositely, a manager aims at directing and
controlling employees

1. Leaders create a vision, managers create goals.

2. Leaders are change agents, managers maintain the status quo.
3. Leaders are unique, managers copy.
4. Leaders take risks, managers control risk .
5. Leaders think long-term, managers think short-term.
6. Leaders grow personally, managers rely on existing, proven skills.
7. Leaders build relationships, managers build systems and processes.
8. Leaders coach, managers direct.
9. Leaders create fans, managers have employees.