For A. Zaleznik, the leader has a personality of his own which distinguishes him in every way from the manager: a question of semantics or a question of substance!
According to Zaleznik, the personality of the manager and the personality of the leader are exclusive: one person cannot be a leader and a manager.
This is enough to discourage managers who want to develop their leadership skills!
Let’s take a look at Zaleznik’s explanations on the subject:
The manager is defined like this:
– He is in harmony with his environment
– They are able to blend into their environment and go unnoticed
– He needs order and stability
These postulates are explained by the fact that:
He is given objectives; He is subject to his environment; He facilitates processes, combining different points of view; He must be thoughtful and logical, focusing on work processes.
The leader, on the other hand, defines himself in the following way:
– He feels deeply “apart
– He often provokes opposing feelings, does not leave people indifferent
– He is at ease in vague and uncertain worlds
These assumptions are explained by the fact that:
It generates objectives rather than responding to them; It shapes its environment; It opens the way to original solutions, seeks out risk; Empathetic and intuitive, it focuses on relationships.
So what do you think?
An approach that we don’t necessarily endorse, but which is of real interest in terms of the types of managers/leaders we are looking for, depending on the corporate culture..
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