An Art versus Results

We badly need to believe in the potency of leaders.  Our instinctive response, when faced with a complicated challenge, is to look for a leader who will solve it.  Engineering faces a future in which our leaders will be facing complex, fast-moving problems in a complex, fast-moving world.

Given the need for effective leadership, we still wrestle with its meaning and measurement.  In the Corner Office (2011), author Adam Bryant outlines his thoughts on what is the difference between management and leadership:

What's the difference between management and leadership?  Management is about results.  You're given certain assets - - people, money, equipment - - and you're expected to make the most of them to deliver an expected outcome.  Management is quantifiable, measurable, almost a science.  Companies can gain a significant edge by being adept practitioners of the discipline.  Leadership is an art.  It's the secret ingredient that makes workers commit more of themselves to their work, to make the extra effort, to make the work personal and not just a job, so that they identity themselves with it rather than just shrugging and saying, :"Hey, I've got to put food on the table, right?"

There is the old story about the reporter that goes to the construction site and asks three bricklayers what they are doing.  The reporter gets three different answers - -

1. The first bricklayer says he is making a living laying these bricks.  You see intersecting circles of management and results without the sense of mission and commitment.  The primary focus of a leader should be to development a team of bricklayers that goes beyond the attitudes reflected in this individual.
2. The second bricklayer says he is practicing the profession of bricklaying.  You see the intersecting circles of #1, but also the hint of the potential of this individual.  You see technical excellence and professionalism - - but no sense of purpose or commitment to a team.  The art of leadership in the context of moving professionals all onto the same page is one of the important challenges for leaders.
3. The third bricklayer says he is building a cathedral.  You see the art of leadership; a sense of mission, a sense of purpose, a sense of scale, a sense of time, a sense of effort - - you see the vision of a cathedral that someone is willing to make a contribution to build.  Hopefully a skilled leader was able take Bricklayer #1 and overtime develop a team of Bricklayer #3s.

People report to managers, but they follow leaders.