Success Advice

Management vs. Leadership – Same Jungle, Different Rules

Published

6 years ago

Mar 7, 2018

Imagine you’re a part of a filming team and you want to do a movie shot deep in the Amazonian rainforest. You need a specific waterfall shot under the moonlight which occurs only once every 4 years. So you recruit the best directors, field operatives, foot guides (for the jungle marsh), producers and more. Everything that you need to go through the jungle and shoot the movie.

These guys go through the jungle effectively. They cut down all the trees and marsh on the way, prepare food, water, and medicine. They are fast, create the right path and move through the jungle under all the rules and regulations. That is what they were trained for and they conquer the jungle.

The team and you come to the right spot to shoot the scene with the waterfall but it isn’t there. And just then, you hear the guy from the top of a tree yelling at you for the past 3 days “Wrong jungle!”

Efficient and Effective. What does it have to do with leadership and management?

The 2 intersecting fields, often confused and misdefined, have been the cornerstone of today’s economy and entrepreneurship. For years, it was all about management but then leadership kicked in. Everyone started praising Steve Jobs, Elon Musk, and Jack Ma for their vision, implying that is was all about leadership. But management and leadership are just different sides of the same coin.

Management is all about playing the field and being the most efficient you can be. This is where you ask the bottom-line question “How can I best accomplish certain things?” And you need this if you want to succeed. But with no direction, even the most efficient teams will fail like we have seen with the filming crew.

“A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way.” – John Maxwell

This is where leadership comes into the play. Leadership is all about seeing the bigger picture and having a holistic approach to the matter. As a leader, you decide which is the right jungle to fight in. You see which is the right jungle for your guys and decide on the direction your team is heading for.

Leadership is all about being effective (doing the right things). This is where you ask the top-line question “What are the things I want to accomplish?” But even the best leaders, the biggest visionaries are worthless without the right team on the field which creates a reality from that vision. You need both management (doing things right) and leadership (doing the right things).

But people often go into extremes of one and ignore the other which leads to a catastrophe (Enron, Blockbuster, Polaroid etc.). So let’s see what that looks like and how, if you find yourself in that position, you can fix it.

The Lone Visionary

We see this quite often, especially in today’s world where the disruption of big companies by “garage“ companies and one-man shows is a rule instead of a mere coincidence. Lone visionaries have the idea. They see the world not as it is, but as it can be. They have big ideas where some of those can disrupt the industries, turning them upside down and with it, the world.

But the problem with lone visionaries is in the first word, they are (a)lone. A mere vision, or knowing which jungle is worth taking on, is only half of the equation. Without the right team on the field and proper management, the vision will remain just that, a vision.

Convincing other people that your vision is possible, that it will change the world and that people will never look at that the same, is what differentiates the lone visionaries from the best leaders in the world.

“A great person attracts great people and knows how to hold them together.” – Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe

“Do you want to spend the rest of your life selling sugared water or do you want a chance to change the world?“, is what Steve Jobs asked the CEO of PepsiCo, John Sculley at their meeting. And that sentence became the reason why Sculley went from a secure and highly paid position at Pepsico, into joining a bunch of young computer nerds on the West coast. Your biggest weapon is your vision. Convince people in that and it will attract people who can put that vision into reality.

The Directionless Juggernaut

These are the perfect managers and workers. They have the skills, knowledge, and attitude which they crafted for years and years. The best managers, problem-solvers, and people who turn visions into realities.

They are the people who know how to cut their way through the jungle because they focus on the trees and marsh, not the entire jungle. But more often than not, this focus makes them end up in the wrong jungle.

Without a holistic approach or a vision, this team becomes the Directionless Juggernaut. It can be a powerful force with the right vision and direction, but without that sense of direction, it becomes the worst nightmare.

The way you handle this is not by doubling down on efficiency (more management), but by inserting some effectiveness (leadership) into it. Invest in creating the vision or find someone who already has a vision and let that serve as a True North.

The Perfect Team

When vision meets delivery or better yet, when management meets leadership, that’s where we have a disruption of industries and eventually of the world. Steve Jobs or Elon Musk didn’t create stuff alone, they had their teams which created a reality out of their visions. In today’s world, it’s crucial to have both.

So tell me, are you doing things right or are you doing the right things? Comment below!

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Bruno Boksic

Bruno Boksic is an expert habit builder who was covered in the biggest personal development publications like Lifehack, Addicted2Success, Goalcast, Pick The Brain. If you want to build life-long habits, Growthabits is the first place to visit.

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How to Break the Cycles of Mediocrity and Manifest Your Greatness

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity

Published

3 weeks ago

Nov 16, 2023

Jamelle Sanders

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In just a few weeks, we will be wrapping up 2023. Can you believe it? This year has been absolutely incredible for me.

I have seen amazing doors opened, new relationships formed and I am seeing dreams realized in my life. While this seems like the hallmarks of a great year, this has also been the most challenging year of my life. With all of the change happening in my life, I have been forced out of my comfort zone and challenged to grow in every area of my life.

I can truly say that I have made the most of my moments this year and I have used everything as a catalyst for maximizing my greatest potential.

As a revolutionary leader, I have the pleasure of consulting and advising leaders around the world to fulfill purpose, realize their greatest potential and make an impact.

I want to share some insights with you that will help you to break cycles of mediocrity and manifest your greatness.

Everything legal must come through the matrix

I am sure that some of you are wondering why I am using the term matrix. However, what you have to understand is that I am trying to make a highly complex spiritual principle practical to understand.

Regardless of your spiritual beliefs, every life has an origin and I believe that origin is divine and begins with eternity. You are birthed from eternity and into time to fulfill a unique purpose and assignment in your lifetime and generation.

The matrix is simply the portal or vehicle that brings something out of the invisible realm and into tangible form. The problem with much of the teaching today is that it excludes the matrix. We are told to believe that success is instantaneous and overnight.

Nobody talks about how a dream progresses through stages beginning with visualization and ultimately culminating in manifestation. Without a matrix or portal then everything that you attempt to birth and build will be illegal.

The matrix not only makes you legal but it gives you the authority and power to function as the greatest expression of who you were created to be.

Every matrix has an incubation process

While many people admire and respect me today, I remember a time when nobody knew who I was or the significance of my message. How did I get to where I am today? I got here through an incubation process.

In other words, everything that has been destined for your life is incubating and awaiting a set time of manifestation. The problem is that most people live their entire lives idle and never initiate the incubation process.

What do I meany by that? Most people are living reckless and very few people are living intentionally. I am amazed at the number of people I have conversations with that have no vision, goals or strategies for their lives. They show great promise and they have undeniable potential.

However, without development they will die with their dreams still in them.

Everything that has been destined for your life must be incubated and converted to become realities born to time.

“Visualize this thing that you want, see it, feel it, believe in it. Make your mental blueprint and begin to build.” – Robert Collier

You must give expression to that which is not yet born to time

When you think about a matrix or a prophetic incubation process, you have to understand that potential is often unrealized and untapped. In other words, your potential is in raw form and your potential cannot serve you as long as it is untapped.

The thing that makes me valuable is that I have the ability to convert potential into power. I have done it in my own life and I have empowered leaders around the world to do the same. How do you convert potential into power?

First, it is important to note that you have to perceive potential. If you cannot perceive your potential then you can never cultivate your potential. In addition, you must take the time to cultivate your potential. We often get excited about our capabilities; however, we never expand our capacity in order to realize our greatest potential.

In other words, the strength of your potential is only discovered through your willingness to stretch. The more we are challenged the more we are empowered to expand our capacity for greatness. Most of all, you must begin to express your potential. The expression of potential is different for every person.

For example, the expression of my potential is best demonstrated through the thoughts, ideas, products, services, books, etc.

For another person the expression of potential may look like a screenplay, artwork, sports, scientific discoveries, medical breakthroughs, etc.

Regardless of the form of expression, I know that you will live empty and unfulfilled until you make the decision to express your potential. The expression of your potential gives voice to your dreams, life to your vision, significance to your moments and activates your true power.

You must manifest your greatness

As a revolutionary thinker and leader, my work has impacted people around the world. I am grateful that my life is a source of empowerment to so many people. However, before anyone could ever benefit from my life, I had to make a non-negotiable decision to become who I was born to be.

I wish I could tell you that this journey is easy and that you will get there overnight. However, in a world that celebrates us for doing we are often criticized for being. As a result, I wasted a lot of time trying to be who other people wanted me to be instead of being who I was born to be.

There is no greatness without becoming and there is no becoming with authenticity. It is through our bravery to be vulnerable that we ultimately manifest our greatness. We do not bless the world by being a duplicate. We bless the world when we honor our difference. When you honor your difference you honor your potential.

Ultimately, your difference is how you manifest your greatness.

When you present anything but your authentic self to the world, you are playing small and you are robbing the world of your significance. Manifesting your greatness requires you to master your gifts.