Leadership vs Management: 11 Fundamental Differences

Are all managers leaders? Or are all leaders managers? 

The answer is — neither. 

Although often used interchangeably, the terms leader and manager describe two very different groups of people. 

Leadership and management have plenty of overlapping skills, characteristics, and functions, but there are significant differences between the two. 

Today, we’re tackling the topic of leading vs managing and finally answering the question, “What’s the difference between management and leadership?”

Let’s dive in!

• The main difference between management and leadership is the primary area of focus — managers focus on organization and maintenance of the existing system while leaders focus on motivating people and driving change. 
• There are 11 key differences between management and leadership, the most notable of which are:
  • People vs Things: Leaders focus on people, while managers focus on tasks or things.
  • Vision vs Execution: Leaders create an idea and managers execute it.
  • Creating ideas vs Maintaining a system: Leaders develop ideas, while managers maintain a system.
  • Aligning vs Organizing: Leaders align people and managers coordinate and organize them.
  • Culture vs Day-to-day: Leaders shape the workplace culture, while managers shape the day-to-day.
  • What and Why vs How and When: Leaders ask What and Why, while managers ask How and When.
• Leaders and managers also have specific similarities since they all have the drive to achieve as well as excellent interpersonal, communication, decision-making, and problem-solving skills, and they are adaptable and ready to take on accountability.

Leadership vs management: Key differences

The main difference between leadership and management is the primary area of focus — while managers focus on organizing and maintaining a well-functioning system, leadership focuses on inspiring, motivating, and spearheading change. 

Where leaders inspire, managers direct, and where leaders drive change, managers maintain stability. 

Although a person can be both — a good leader and a good manager — we can easily distinguish a manager from a leader based on their approach to:

• People, 
• Tasks, and
• Goals.

Overall, there are 11 key differences between management and leadership that fall into 1 of the 3 categories listed above, and they are:

1. People vs Things: Leaders focus on people, while managers focus on tasks or things.
2. Vision vs Execution: Leaders create an idea and managers execute it.
3. Creating ideas vs Maintaining a system: Leaders develop ideas, while managers maintain a system.
4. Aligning vs Organizing: Leaders align people and managers coordinate and organize them.
5. Culture vs Day-to-day: Leaders shape the workplace culture, while managers shape the day-to-day.
6. Future vs Present: Leaders look into the future, while managers focus on the present.
7. Driving vs Implementation: Leaders drive change, while managers implement it.
8. What and Why vs How and When: Leaders ask What and Why, while managers ask How and When.
9. Strategies vs Plans: Leaders make strategies, while managers make plans.
10. Influence vs Authority: Leaders have influence, while managers exercise authority.
11. Quality vs Position: Leadership is a quality, management is a position.

Let’s take a closer look into each of these differences and finally get to the bottom of this topic.

#1 Leaders focus on people, while managers focus on tasks or things

According to one Zippia research, only 10% of people are natural leaders. But what separates that 10% from everyone else?

One of the first things that comes to mind when thinking about management vs leadership is the difference in the approach to people. 

Although both leaders and managers try to build trust in their teams, leaders are more people-focused than managers who, in turn, tend to focus more on tasks and the organizational aspect of team communication. 

We talked to Catherine Rymsha, Ed.D., a PR professional, Author of The Leadership Decision, and Lecturer at UMass Lowell, about this major distinction between leadership and management. 

She further elaborated that leaders are driven to connect with people, while managers usually have their focus elsewhere. 

#2 Leaders create a vision and managers execute it

No matter which leadership style a leader subscribes to, their primary responsibility is to develop a vision for a company and use their communication skills to communicate that vision in an inspiring, motivating, and effective way. 

Managers, on the other hand, are an integral part of making that vision a reality. They are the ones who will ensure that all the pieces come together to execute the leader’s vision. 

As C. Nicole Mason, Author, Racial & Gender Equity Advocate, and President of the Institute for Women’s Policy Research put it, leaders are chief communicators, while managers are main executors.

So, a strategic leader will develop an inspiring vision, create a goal-oriented plan to achieve it, and motivate others to go after those goals. They will boost employee morale and ensure all the people are on the same page. 

However, it’s the managers who will organize the tasks necessary to achieve the goals in question. Managers are also the ones who will ensure all employees are performing as they should by setting SMART goals, for example, or conducting thorough performance reviews.

#3 Leaders develop ideas while managers maintain a system

All leaders tend to keep an eye on the final goal — their vision. However, they also tend to focus on inspiring their employees to achieve that goal by any means necessary. 

That means that leaders tend to inspire and encourage people to: 

• Think outside the box, 
• Be engaged and innovative, and 
• Come up with creative solutions by cooperating with their team members. 

So, they inspire people to challenge themselves and the system.

Meanwhile, managers tend to thrive within the system. They maintain the status quo — not in a bad way, of course. Managers ensure that the team is performing at its optimal level and implement the decisions made by the leaders. 

Maintaining vs challenging the system is something Rhonda Y. Williams, CEO and Chief Vision Officer at Above the Grind Leadership, highlights as an important distinction between managers and leaders.

Below you can see an example that illustrates this point in Pumble, a team communication app.

Jessica, a leader, is open to new ideas and is constantly developing her vision for a project. Meanwhile, Milo, a manager, is quick to think of organizational solutions that will ensure the system runs smoothly even after major changes are implemented.

#4 Leaders align people, while managers coordinate and organize them

Influencing people is a key skill of all leaders. 

For example, transformational leaders influence the way people behave by fostering independence and improving performance in the workplace, while servant leaders create a positive work environment thus influencing people’s relationship to their job and company.

Either way, the leaders influence people’s:

• Behavior,
• Thoughts, and
• Engagement.

This last point is vital for a company’s success because low employee engagement costs companies around the world $7.8 billion every year, according to Pumble’s Employee engagement statistics for 2023. So, aside from being a positive influence on people, leaders also ensure the company’s bottom line is secured. 

By influencing people, they ensure they are aligned with the main vision as well as company goals. 

Meanwhile, managers coordinate and organize employees. They focus on the organizational details like allocating resources, coordinating teams, and measuring collaborative efforts to ensure everyone is pulling in the same direction. 

Of course, managers also play a part in employee engagement — according to Gallup, they are responsible for 70% of the variance in employee engagement.

Williams, noted that these different approaches are reflected in leaders’ and managers’ prioritization:

Williams continued, giving an example of what that might look like in real life. 

#5 Leaders shape the workplace culture, while managers shape the day-to-day

So, since managers are in charge of maintaining protocols, measuring and improving effectiveness, and administering decisions, they are quite focused on the day-to-day operations. 

They are often solely concerned with day-to-day operations and shape them to achieve optimal results. 

Meanwhile, leaders tend to be more concerned with the company culture. They infuse beliefs and values into the corporate system to: 

• Foster a positive, inclusive culture, 
• Determine how the organization should function, and
• Direct how and in which manner the company goals will be achieved. 

In other words, leaders set the tone. They are role models who showcase what behaviors and which mindsets are welcomed in the company and which aren’t. 

This is of vital importance, as one Flexjobs survey revealed that the majority of people would quit due to toxic work culture — a staggering 62%. 

So, it’s important that the tone the leaders set is positive. Of course, once a leader has set the tone, it’s up to the managers to uphold that tone on a day-to-day basis. So, leaders establish a culture, while managers endorse and support it.

#6 Leaders look into the future, while managers focus on the present

Leaders are notoriously future-oriented. It is one of the staples of leadership communication that leaders are always forward-thinking and talking about future plans. 

Being able to have some foresight about future events and align the company goals along with that foresight is a skill most leaders have (or aspire to have) because it allows them to see the big picture and always keep it in mind, as Mason noted.

Although looking into the future is a necessity for the success of any company, focusing on the present — something that managers can do — is equally important. 

As Albert Orbinati, PhD, Department Chair of Business at Champlain College Online and an Assistant Professor of Business Administration, noted, a manager’s ability to steer the team in the direction of the future the leader is looking into is a notable skill. 

#7 Leaders drive change, while managers implement it  

Leaders are notorious risk takers. They seek, motivate, and drive change in their organizations, and empower employees to take risks as well. As our contributor Orbinati put it, change is a necessary part of leadership.

Strategic risk-taking is a vital part of visionary leadership and other leadership styles. A good leader will always try to find ways the organization can change for the better — which is why they will encourage others to seek innovative solutions, new approaches, and novel ideas.

Managers, on the other hand, prefer stability to change. As mentioned, they maintain the status quo. However, that doesn’t mean managers don’t have a role when it comes to change. 

They implement it.

Changing an organization’s processes, goals, objectives, or vision affects a lot of things. A change that big needs to be followed by adjustments in the system — scheduling, task organization, allocating resources, staffing, etc. 

As Orbinati testifies, this is well within the scope of managers’ capabilities. 

#8 Leaders ask What and Why, while managers ask How and When

The difference between leadership and management runs so deep that even the questions that leaders ask themselves are different from the ones managers ask themselves. 

While leaders question everything and, as mentioned, challenge the status quo, they ask questions like What and Why. Meanwhile, managers ask questions like How and When.

This perfectly reflects the previous differences between leadership and management because while the future-oriented, vision-driven leaders strive to change things, present-focused, task-oriented managers ask themselves how and when they could implement the changes leaders advocate for. 

This is something our contributor Williams highlights as a particularly important distinction between leaders and managers. 

Williams offered another real-life example of what this distinction might look like.

Below you can see an example of both managerial and leadership approach to asking questions, as shown in Pumble, a team collaboration app. 

Nina, a leader, notices a discrepancy in performance numbers and immediately starts wondering what happened and why. Meanwhile, Joan, a manager, focused on how and when the issue can be solved and when. 

#9 Leaders make strategies, while managers make plans

Strategizing and strategic thinking are skills that both managers and leaders excel at. 

However, as mentioned, leaders are often more capable of looking into the future than managers are. Even a hands-off or a laissez-faire leader will have a strategy in place.

Leaders’ strategies are often more further-reaching and all-encompassing than those made by managers because managers make plans that are a smaller but significant part of leaders’ strategies. 

As put by Mary Krull, SHRM-SCP, PRC, Lead Talent Attraction Partner at Southern New Hampshire University, there’s a massive difference between the types of plans leaders and managers make. 

In the table below, you can see the difference between managers and leaders — leaders strategize about long-term goals, managers plan in order to accomplish short-term ones.

LEADERS STRATEGIZE ABOUT	MANAGERS PLAN ABOUT
Company objectives	Organizing tasks
Core values	Directing people
Strengths and weaknesses	Allocating resources
Opportunities	Coordinating teamwork
Threats	Managing budgets

#10 Leaders have influence, while managers exercise authority

So far, we’ve covered a lot of differences in our “Manager vs Leader” guide. However, the most notable one, at least for people working under them, is how they lead.

Namely, leaders lead through influence. 

In fact, that might even be their most notable feature. According to a research paper titled The Leadership/Management Concept Scale: Differentiating between actions constituting leadership and management, influence is a quality that is most consistently associated with leadership.

Leading through influence means leaders:

• Build trust in their teams by showing people they can lean on them,
• Lead with empathy and show genuine concern about other people’s well-being, goals, and aspirations, and
• Use respectful communication with their employees.

What’s more, leaders use emotional intelligence and charisma (and quite a few persuasive techniques) to get what they need — their employees to rally behind them and align with the vision.

Managers, on the other hand, lead by exercising authority. 

Now, that’s not to say that people in managerial positions aren’t just as charismatic (or persuasive) as those in leadership roles. However, managers do tend to utilize organizational hierarchy and rules to maintain the system in place. 

#11 Leadership is a quality, management is a position

Finally, the last difference between leadership and manager, and perhaps the most important one, is that being a leader means having a specific quality, while being a manager means occupying a specific position.

If you have a knack for leadership, you will be perceived as a leader. People might even naturally flock to you or look to you for solutions, even if you don’t have a leadership position. 

Meanwhile, you’re either a manager or you aren’t — because being a manager means having a specific position.

Of course, managers can also have various leadership qualities, as one doesn’t exclude the other.

How are leadership and management similar?

Now that we’ve answered the question, “How is leadership different from management and vice versa?”, it’s time to tackle the similarities between the two.

In the words of the famous Stephen Covey, author of the bestseller The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People:

“Management is about climbing the ladder; leadership determines whether the ladder is leaning against the right wall.” 

— Stephen Covey

So, even from the metaphor above, it’s clear that management and leadership have some things in common. 

As we’ve mentioned throughout the article, both leadership and management require a specific skill set. 

For example, a leader’s most important skills are:

• Motivation,
• Active listening,
• Forward thinking,
• Influence,
• Empathy,
• Emotional intelligence,
• Integrity,
• Self-awareness, and
• Critical thinking.

Meanwhile, top management skills are:

• Organizational skills,
• Goal setting,
• Attention to detail,
• Supervisory skills,
• Strategic thinking,
• Trustworthiness,
• Project management,
• Conflict resolution, and
• Time management.

But where does the Venn diagram of skills overlap when it comes to management and leadership? 

As you can see in the image below, skills and qualities that both leaders and managers have are:

• Drive to achieve, 
• Interpersonal skills,
• Communication skills,
• Decision-making skills,
• Problem-solving skills,
• Adaptability, and
• Accountability.

Similarity #1: Drive to achieve

Although they may approach the issue from different perspectives, both leaders and managers have the same burning drive to succeed. 

They may view success differently — since leaders set long-term and managers short-term goals — but the drive is the same nonetheless.

C. Nicole Mason highlights this as perhaps the biggest similarity between the two.

Similarity #2: Interpersonal skills

Interpersonal skills and, most notably, interpersonal communication skills are vital both for leaders and managers. 

With strong interpersonal skills, leaders and managers can better:

• Motivate the team,
• Foster engagement,
• Encourage collaboration, and
• Achieve goals.

Similarity #3: Communication skills

Communication skills are also quite high on the list of important skills for those in leadership roles because effective communication can make or break a company. 

In the words of our contributor Krull, there are no successful leaders or managers with poor communication skills (or at least there shouldn’t be) because that’s what they value and seek out:

The reason for this is that poor communication is a common cause of workplace failure — something 86% of employees agree on. 

What’s more, the top benefits of effective communication are also among the top goals all managers and leaders want to achieve:

• Easier problem-solving, 
• Improved productivity,
• Improved engagement,
• Better inter-team relations, and
• Easier and better decision-making.

Similarity #4: Decision-making skills

The burden of making decisions falls both on managers and leaders, which is why all of them need strong decision-making skills. 

Our contributor, Krull, highlighted this quality as one similarity between managers and leaders that still slightly sets them apart from one another.  

Orbinati agrees and adds that decision making is perhaps the most important skill for all managers and leaders. 

Similarity #5: Problem-solving skills

Another vital skill for managers and leaders is problem solving. Leadership roles come with complex challenges, and brainstorming and problem solving are a necessity.

Robust problem-solving skills help leaders:

• Navigate challenges,
• Anticipate and adapt to change,
• Improve their own and overall efficiency,
• Boost collaboration, and
• Manage risk. 

Similarity #6: Adaptability

Although we mentioned that leaders favor change while managers maintain the status quo, both leaders and managers need to be adaptable to succeed. 

Leaders are traditionally more resilient and bigger advocates of change, but that doesn’t mean that managers don’t need to be adaptable. 

Managers need to have an open mind and an adaptable approach to be able to shift priorities, change work processes to increase efficiency, or be responsive to new information, for example.    

Similarity #7: Accountability

Finally, the last skill managers and leaders have in common is probably the toughest to bear — accountability. 

All people who are in leadership roles need to take responsibility for all decisions they make and all decisions and moves other people make under their supervision. 

As Orbinati states, both leaders and managers share this burden that isn’t without consequences.

The flip side of this coin is that leaders and managers also get to reap the benefits of accountability and take the glory of success (as long as they first carry the burden of responsibility, of course). 

Be the best manager or leader you can be — With Pumble

Although managers and leaders might have different approaches to implementing strategy, they are necessary components for any organization looking to make a mark in the world. 

It might seem that leaders are the most important part of any organization, but managers are just as valuable. What’s more, they can also be leaders, as noted by Williams:

Both managers and leaders play vital roles in an organization’s success because they are responsible for the constant flow of communication that ultimately paves the way for top performance. 

To ensure that you’re playing your part as a manager or a leader, see to it that all the members of your team — operational, managerial, and those in leadership positions — are interconnected and on the same page.

One way to do that is to utilize the power of technology.

Pumble, a business communication app, can help you realize your full potential as a leader or a manager. Pumble helps you improve team performance by centralizing communication and making collaboration easier with features like:

• Direct messages,
• Channels,
• Threads,
• Voice calls, and
• Video conferencing.

Take advantage of the powerful software that will save your team time and increase their productivity — try out Pumble for free.