From Management to Leadership: 7 Myths Worth Letting Go
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| Photo by Jonny Caspari on Unsplash |
Currently, I am reading Strong Ground by Brene Brown and stumbled upon a section where she discusses the difference between management and leadership. At first, she argues that managers might just be underdeveloped leaders, but are they?
No. She argues that both are different (and necessary).
Still, most people in white‑collar workplaces don’t want to be “managed” in the traditional sense. Instead, they want a leader who helps them do their best work.
Let’s use that narrative to reframe 7 common misbeliefs about management and leadership:
- Leaders are the strongest voice in the room. → No. It is the job of a leader to make others confident to speak up on their own.
- Great leaders have answers, always. → Great leaders admit when they don’t know something themselves. However, they know whom to ask or how to create thinkers who don’t wait for answers.
- If I step back, standards will drop. → If standards drop without you, you’ve created compliance and not ownership among your team.
- My success proves my leadership. → Leadership isn’t about personal success. It is about the growth of others. Great leaders are those who can produce other leaders.
- Developing others slows results. → I hope nowadays nobody really thinks that way. Especially not leaders. Development may slow in the very short-term, but the effects compound tremendously.
- Things stop when I’m not there. → When progress needs you, leadership didn’t scale. Dependency did.
- Pressure keeps standards high. → People want to feel (psychologically) safe. It’s your job as a leader to create an environment where your team thrives.
Thank you for reading! This article was inspired by a LinkedIn post by Mike Leber.