The difference between a leader and a manager is exemplified in an article by Sharon M.
D’Orsie (2004) about a public health pioneer, Dr. Alice Hamilton. As a doctor, Dr. Hamilton
worked endlessly to stamp out industrial diseases and better the worker conditions. As a leader, she
set direction for the industrial toxicology field of the medical industry and inspired further research
and change. The article explains the difference between Dr. Hamilton’s actions and those of what a
manager does, mainly planning, budgeting, staffing, and controlling. In essence, through her
example, she inspired others to follow her objective and involved (engaged) others to achieve successes when there were few regulations or industry controls. Dr. Hamilton’s case shows that
sometimes managers have to decide whether to manage or lead, depending on the circumstances,
thus they may have to adjust their leadership style. Dr. Hamilton’s competence and thirst for doing
the right thing helped her combine management (align people) and leadership (accomplish her
vision) characteristics to reach her objective to make workplaces safer. Thus, as Young and
Dulewicz (2008) mention in their study regarding leadership and management in the British Royal
Navy, sometimes leadership style and management functions overlap. Moreover, since the new 21st
century leader and manager must be both a leader and manager, effective performance is standard
for both. The four common factors which both leaders and followers must achieve include
conceptualizing what needs to be accomplished, aligning employees and organizational assets, being
active in the organization (engaged), and empowering/motivating employees to succeed.
Additionally, the best performance factor for both leader and manager is being able to use one’s
abilities to their fullest, in whichever role the individual encounters (Young & Dulewicz, 2008).
Leaders and managers both develop their own leadership styles and techniques primarily through
trial and error, and this development is refined throughout their careers and lives. In sum, there is
definitely a distinction between leading and managing, and as Mintzberg (2009) speculates, “One
does the right things, copes with change; the other does things right, copes with complexity” (p. 8).