In it’s simplest form, Leaders Develop Followers and Managers Manage People and Things. Leaders don’t have subordinates, because they are in the business of developing followers and developing other leaders. Managers have subordinates, because with managers it’s all about positional equity and telling “Subordinate Joe or Subordinate Sally” to go make these widgets and make them this way.
A leader on the other hand is not worried about positional equity or formal authority, because they are in the business of creating followers and developing more leaders. Following is a voluntary action and often times managers don’t realize this. The challenge for most managers is they confuse their management with leadership. A great self-assessment question to determine whether you are leading or managing is this: