Leaders vs. Managers

I recently attended the CIO 100 Symposium sponsored by CIO magazine.  It was a great conference.  Well organized.  Excellent sessions and content. Quality attendees.  Much of the discussions centered around innovation, effectiveness and thriving versus surviving as you might expect.

Well, as I thought about the sessions, I was reminded of some of Lee Iacocca's comments in his 2007 book, Where Have All the Leaders Gone? and it got me thinking. Is there a connection between the current state of the economy and the business world and the current state of "leadership"?

In his book, Iacocca lays out his "C" list of qualities as a test of leadership:

• Curiosity - listening to those outside of the 'yes sir' crowd in the inner circle
• Creativive - willingness to try something differenct
• Communicate - facing reality and telling the truth
• Character - knowing the difference between right and wrong and having the wherewithall to do the right thing
• Courage - "conjones" versus bluster
• Conviction - passion and fire in your belly
• Charisma - the quality that makes people want to follow you versus glitz and flash
• Competence - knowing what you're doing
• Common sense - the ability to reason

Iacocca goes on to talk about the biggest C, crisis and how important leadership is in such cases.

I don't think many will argue that we've collectively been faced with an economic crisis for many months.  So the question I have for you is this.  Is the current unhealthy state of business and the economic crisis we're staring down the throat of the result of too many managers and not enough leaders?  Are we expereincing a shortage of executives with an abundance of Iacocca's "C" list?  In my experience, I think it's a contributing factor.

I'd be interested in your opinion and what you think should be done about it.

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