Before we get to the five best practices for leaders, there is a fundamental difference you must understand.

Leaders and managers serve different functions within a healthy organization.

Both roles must inspire and instill accountability but there is a profound difference between management and leadership.

Managers use command and control techniques. They measure. They plan. They set goals. They do.

Leaders, on the other hand, are more about being than doing. It’s more WHO they are than what they do that inspires the “better angels of our nature,” as Abraham Lincoln said.

Managing is about efficiency and doing things right. Leadership, on the other hand, is about doing the right things.

Too many managers climb the ladder beautifully; only to find out they climbed the wrong ladder. Management is about controls, procedures, and systems.

Leadership is about trust. Only through trust can leaders innovate, create, adapt, and change.

Leadership is about enrolling people in a vision that will let them be extraordinary and make an impact.

Leadership is both top down and bottom up. In order for a leader to trust, the people they delegate responsibilities to must be well educated about the work they need to do and the direction you are going so they can make good decisions. To simply let go of the reins without giving people the necessary tools is a formula for disaster.

Make no mistake, you need BOTH leaders and managers in a kick-butt sales culture.

Look for the five specific best practices utilized by high-performing leaders within the industry in next week’s blog post.