{"id":719,"date":"2016-05-03T10:00:14","date_gmt":"2016-05-03T10:00:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/?p=719"},"modified":"2025-07-01T17:20:23","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T17:20:23","slug":"can-manage-things-people-need-led","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/can-manage-things-people-need-led\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cYou can manage things, but people need to be led.\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Maxwell, who has written many books on leadership and who teaches courses in it, talks about \u201cThe Five Levels of Leadership.\u201d (NOTE: If you want to watch Maxwell\u2019s entire 27-minute presentation, you can view it at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aPwXeg8ThWI<\/a> ).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In it, he describes the \u201cFive Levels\u201d as a pyramid whereby all of us start at the bottom and work our way up, level by level, until we (at least some of us) reach the pinnacle.\u00a0 He calls Level One, the \u201cPosition Level\u201d because the person who holds a leadership position at this level holds it only because the org chart says so.\u00a0 At this level, people will do what they\u2019re told to do because they must . . . if they want to keep their jobs and collect a paycheck.\u00a0 But the authority figure in this environment will get the minimum effort from his or her people.\u00a0 They will do what they have to do in order to protect their jobs and collect a paycheck, but no more.<\/p>\n

If you suspect that you, or some of your managers, are stuck in Position Level leadership and would like to change, please continue reading below.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cYou can manage things, but people need to be led.\u201d <\/strong>\u00a0\u00a0– Peter Drucker<\/em><\/p>\n

Pretty smart guy that Peter Drucker. He understood what many people do not . . . that leading and managing are two totally different activities.\u00a0 A great manager is not necessarily a great leader, nor is a great leader necessarily a great manager.\u00a0 Good managers are organized, task-oriented, able to juggle a lot of details, and are driven by schedules and deadlines.\u00a0\u00a0 As Drucker teaches, managing is about things.\u00a0 Buildings and equipment can be managed.\u00a0 Inventory can be managed.\u00a0 Cash can be managed.\u00a0 But people?\u00a0 Not so much.\u00a0 Good leaders are visionary, big picture people who are capable of inspiring and challenging the people around them, and painting a picture of exciting possibilities ahead.\u00a0 It\u2019s not that people can\u2019t lead and<\/u><\/em> manage, but it\u2019s a rare person who can be great at both.\u00a0 So are you leading your people, or are you trying to manage them?<\/p>\n

In its current issue, Time magazine profiles \u201cThe 100 Most Influential People in the World.\u201d Sadly, I\u2019m not one of them.\u00a0 Neither are you.\u00a0 But one who did make the list is Christine Lagarde.\u00a0 She has led the International Monetary Fund since 2011 and also serves as Finance Minister in her native France.\u00a0 As the first woman in both roles, she has shown extraordinary leadership at a time when the world was still recovering from recession and the European Union was trying to hold itself together.\u00a0 Time quotes her as saying, \u201cLeadership is about encouraging people.\u00a0 It\u2019s about stimulating them.\u00a0 It\u2019s about enabling them to achieve what they can achieve\u00a0\u00a0. . . and to do that with purpose.\u201d \u00a0While that may not be a precise definition of leadership, it\u2019s a great definition of what leaders do.<\/p>\n

There is an inflection point for all would-be leaders. They can stay at the John Maxwell\u2019s Position Level, leaders in name only because the org chart says so, or they can begin working on their leadership skills, developing their own leadership style, and move beyond Level One toward the sort of \u00a0leadership envisioned by Christine Lagarde.\u00a0 The objective, according to Richard Teerlink, former CEO of Harley-Davidson, \u201cis a group of people working toward a common goal because they want<\/u><\/em><\/strong> to, not because they have<\/u><\/em><\/strong> to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Think of your own leadership style as well as the leadership styles of other authority figures within your organization. Are any of you practicing Position Level leadership and getting less-than-optimal performance?\u00a0 Or have you moved up a few levels to a point that people are performing at \u201cwant to\u201d levels rather than \u201chave to\u201d levels?<\/p>\n

If you need help elevating the level of leadership within your organization, call me. I\u2019ll be happy to talk to you about it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Maxwell, who has written many books on leadership and who teaches courses in it, talks about \u201cThe Five Levels of Leadership.\u201d (NOTE: If you want to watch Maxwell\u2019s entire 27-minute presentation, you can view it at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=aPwXeg8ThWI ).\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 In it, he describes the \u201cFive Levels\u201d as a pyramid whereby all of us start at<\/p>\n

Read More\u2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[39,33,26,22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=719"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":724,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/719\/revisions\/724"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/rocksolidbizdevelopment.com\/ourblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}