Leaders and managers: the real difference

I have spent much of my career trying to work out the difference between leaders and managers and have come to the conclusion that it does not really matter much. So I was particularly interested to read Julian Birkinshaw’s article “An experiment in reinvention”.I like his basic definition of management: “The act of getting people together to accomplish desired goals.” My even simpler definition (which I learnt in my first week working in the NHS) is “Getting results through people.” And if we do have to make a distinction between leadership and management, what about this, which I recall from watching The Apprentice some time ago: “Leadership is about making things possible, whereas management is about making things happen.”