What Leaders Really Do, Essay Example

“Management is about coping with complexity. Leadership, by contrast, is about coping with change.”  (Boyatzis, Goleman, and McKee)

• In this statement the author was trying to emphasize the difference between leadership and management- both management roles and leadership roles can affect a person in a dissonant or resonant way.
• Dissonant example- If a leader or manager only has the ability to deal with the complex factors of running a company, but no ability to cope with change, then the outcome will be catastrophic for the business.
• Resonant example- A leader who can juggle the complex ins and outs of owning a business, along with the constant and unexpected changes that occur daily, than the leader will succeed.

“Leadership isn’t better than management, nor is it a replacement for it.” (Boyatzis, Goleman, and McKee)

• In this statement the author was referring to the correlation between management and leadership- rather than separate entities that can survive alone, they require some type of interagency collaboration amongst both sides in order for the group as a whole to function properly.
• Dissonant example- A leader becomes power hungry because of the role he plays on his team- because of this his management suffers and his employees learn to resent him, making them less likely to work as hard as they can.
• Resonant example- A leader balances his management roles well, utilizing every member of his team to their best capacity- the group is able to work quickly and efficiently because the leader keeps his power in check.