Top-100, Hall-of-Fame Amazon Business Book Reviewer, Bob Morris, recently conducted a two-part interview with IntelliVen CEO, PeterD. Click the image at left to see Part 2. Click here to see Part 1.
Excerpts from Part 2 follow:
Morris: In your opinion, what are the most significant differences between great leadership and great management?
DiGiammarino: I agree with those that say you manage things and lead people but you also manage things in order to lead people so the two are not so much different when intertwined in great leaders. That ties in with the double meaning of the title of my book. Manage to Lead helps you to
- Manage yourself to do things that every leader ought to do and when you do them you are de facto leading.
- Squeak by in the role of leader even when you do not happen to be a born leader but you are a good manager!
…
Morris: For more than 25 years, it has been my great pleasure as well as privilege to work closely with the owner/CEOs of hundreds of small companies, those with $20-million or less in annual sales. In your opinion, of all the material you provide in Manage to Lead, which do you think will be of greatest value to leaders in small companies? Please explain.
DiGiammarino: The seven truths are like seven fingers on which sits a tray; if any one supporting finger gets out of synch with the rest, for example if it is too well develop or not developed as much as the rest, the tray falls over. All seven must be assessed, addressed, and developed iteratively and continuously in step with the others.
That said, there are invariably two things that, if a leader addresses, cause a major upward inflection in performance by organizations in the size range you mention.
Organizations can get to $15-20M by sheer energy, determination, and intelligence of the founder. Beyond that takes behavioral changes which do not come naturally because they are so dramatically different than what has correlated with the leader’s success so far.
The first is to be open to input (Get Help) and the second is to move from jungle soccer, where everyone runs to the ball, metaphorically referring to whatever the leader is doing, to position play where the leader has made clear what the organization is counting on from each player and sets about helping each to be successful (Get Clear).
Click here to see the full Part 2 interview.
Please post comments and questions for further discussion via reply to this post.
Hit the radio button at the bottom of the right-hand column to listen to a full-length live radio interview of PeterD by Rick Franzi on Critical Mass for Business Radio.