The Blogworld of Poppyfish People Development

In the field of management science and in organisational development in particular we often talk about the differences between managers and leaders. Every now and then I come across great little snippets and insights from outside the field that add to the conversation. And here is one of those from the field of military history, a place to which my reading commonly wanders and where the rich tapestry of leadership is a theme that is commonly discussed. Less common though is for this field of study to throw up a direct comparison between leaders and managers.  The British General William 'Bill' Slim was the master of successful military campaigns against the Japanese in the Far East during the Second World War and the leader of what is often called the "Forgotten 14th" Army. Slim, with excellent credentials of success both in terms of strategy and leadership saw a keen difference between leaders and managers. Slim's comparison runs as follows: "The lea...

Technical excellence. You strive for it, you study for it. Ever since that first day at school when they opened the top of your head and started pouring in all those facts, algorithms, rules, dates, ratios, laws and equations you have been building the extreme specimen of technical genius that you are today. Technical knowledge is essential, it is the bedrock of our physical world, and for year upon year you have strived to improve your mastery of it. Technical excellence is important for all sorts of reasons, but at the most basic level it is important because it gives us power. It gives us power to speak with authority on our chosen area of excellence. It gives us power to get our foot in the door of that job we are seeking, it gives us power to earn reward and recognition, and it gives us power over other people. Neuroscientists are technical experts. They have power over me. The power I assign to them means that I believe them when they talk to me about the way the brain ...