Last week, I discussed if an owner of a business needs to be a controller or a leader. Then I questioned how each potential response is related to the topic of good management. I quoted Everette Taylor, whose experience had taught him that: It was an extremely valuable lesson to learn that as a leader, you have to be able to trust people. 

Now let me take the discussion to another level. The phrase ‘boss’ is often thrown around without due meaning. However, a boss – in a small or large corporate – is not necessarily an owner, as the name implies. It can be just the head of a team or department. (By the way, the origin of the word is not certain. Whether you trace it to Latin, Dutch or even Yiddish, it seems to refer to a person who is in a position of superiority.)

A recent posting on LinkedIn featured some observations from Richard Branson, who knows more than a thing or two about creating and then running successful businesses. Branson observed: –

When I started out in business, I did so to make a positive difference. I wasn’t determined to organise or direct people, but instead work with them to change the lives of others for the better. I feel that this is the role of a leader. Management is about maintaining processes, disciplines and systems — something that doesn’t come naturally to yours truly. Where managers keep the rules, leaders have to be willing to break them, or at least find creative ways around them. (Emphasis added by MH).

As a business coach and mentor, this raises for me a key issue, when working with CEOs. I find too many are trying to manage, when they evidently lack such skills. Thus, the important matter of creating a change in the market place is under resourced. Such chaos usually results in reduced sales.

The point is that leadership, management, control and even motivation are important terms to understand for the success of an enterprise, whatever its size. However, they are used so commonly that most people have forgotten the subtle yet substantial differences between each one. And that often results significant under performance and poor bottom line results.