If you were to ask someone on the street what comes to mind when they hear the word manager they might say things like out of touch, outdated, command and control, etc…However, if you were to ask that same person what they think of when they hear the word leader they would probably have much more positive things to say about it than they said about a manager.

When you bring up the word leader people tend to get excited and they think about someone who is a visionary, someone who inspires and someone who is creative. So why is there such a distinction between the two words? There really should not be a difference between a manager and a leader.

Language is so important and I think that we need to start to redefine these words to make them equal. We have the power to do that. If we could focus on hiring inspiring, creative, innovative and visionary people to fill the role of managers in our organizations it would change our mindset. People would start equate the word manager with all of the positive connotations that leaders have now. So let’s start changing the definition of what a manager is. What comes to mind when you hear the word manager? What about when you hear the word leader?

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My new book, The Employee Experience Advantage (Wiley, March 2017) analyzes over 250 global organizations to understand how to create a place where people genuinely want to show up to work. Subscribe to the newsletter here.

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