How to Think Like a Leader, Not Just a Manager
Episode 509 | Author: Emilie Aries
How could thinking and acting like a leader transform your career (and the rest of your life)?
It’s common to conflate management and leadership, but they’re actually quite different. I first talked about this back in episode 356, How to Think Like a Leader Rather Than a Manager, and the points I raised then are just as true today—if managers, especially women who are managers, want to level up in their careers, they need to flex their leadership skills.
Let’s break down the difference between these two essential mindsets by looking at three distinct workplace scenarios where you can practice applying not just a managerial mentality but a leadership one, too.
Tasks vs. People Orientation
A good manager is task-oriented and outcome-focused, and that’s vital. Someone needs to make sure the pieces of the puzzle are coming together. A good leader, on the other hand, steps back from the step-by-step action plan and thinks more about the team as a whole. She thinks about the people she needs to connect to foster success and about what’s not on the task list that should be. She might even play around with putting the puzzle together in a whole new way.
Take writing a memo announcing a new change initiative, for example. The manager outlines what needs to be explained, writes a draft, and sends it off for approval. The leader takes a higher-level view, contemplating the timing, the message, and the messenger, before putting pen to paper. Who needs to be consulted, included, and briefed ahead of time? What will the downstream ramifications be once the memo is sent?
Execution vs. innovation
A good manager spends her days driving toward deadlines, advancing projects, making sure work is completed with precision. She ponders what she, personally, can do to make things better. A capable leader steps back and considers how she might improve the very process the manager adheres to so tightly. She questions the way it’s always been done and considers who she can work with to improve the system as a whole.
Let’s say you’re creating a slide deck to present to senior leadership, outlining how you would expand an initiative you spearheaded to a new region. In the manager mindset, you might lay out what you did that worked and explain how you will do that again on a larger scale. If you put on your leadership tophat, though, you go wider and deeper. You share market research showing what others have done in the area; you don’t look at what you did and work forward—you look at what needs to be done and work backward. (This is an example from a real client I worked with through the Level Up Leadership Accelerator, and it paid off big-time in helping her land a leadership promotion!)
Doing things right vs. doing the right thing
The rules are important to a good manager. She focuses on being thorough and precise, working hard to make sure projects go as planned. A leader sometimes struggles with all those finicky details because she’s tuned her attention more toward how people feel than what people do. That means if the rules don’t align with her values, she might question, push against, or even supersede them.
A manager knows exactly how a project is supposed to go and why it did or didn’t go that way. A leader might not mind if the project didn’t go just as planned—as long as the broader organizational principles were upheld.
Adopt a leadership mindset
Being a strong manager is far from a bad thing. Without managers, teams would often be lost. Leadership can seem a bit head-in-the-clouds sometimes, but it ensures everyone is pushing toward a better future. In the meantime, the manager is vital to keeping things grounded and ensuring quality control. Making the shift from exclusively thinking as a manager to honing and showing off your leadership skills will help prove that you’re capable of great things in your organization.
You can practice this mindset in your day-to-day life, too, by getting more involved in your community. Instead of just bemoaning a street corner that could use a crosswalk, say, you might find out who to contact to start the ball rolling for change.
I challenge you to think about this over the next week: How might you adopt a leadership mindset in your work and the rest of your life? Are you focused on getting things done well or on the people and the future? How would it feel to think about which connections could make your next steps more impactful?
Once you’ve pondered or implemented some big-picture thinking and critical analysis, pop into our Courage Community on Facebook or our group on LinkedIn and let everyone know how it felt!
Related Links From Today’s Episode:
Stanford Advancement of Women in Medicine
Leadership Development and DEI Training for Teams
Herminia Ibarra on Women and Vision
Episode 308, How Women Leaders Can Win in Male-Dominated Workplaces
Episode 344, What Confidence Really Is and How to Cultivate It
Episode 356, How to Think Like a Leader Rather Than a Manager
LEVEL UP: a Leadership Accelerator for Women on the Rise
GO DEEPER AND LEVEL UP YOUR LEADERSHIP SKILLS:
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EMILIE: Hey and welcome to the Bossed Up podcast, episode 509. I'm your host, Emilie Aries, the Founder and CEO of Bossed Up. And today I'm so excited to bring back an episode that's an oldie, but a goodie,
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all about shifting in your mindset from thinking like a manager to thinking like a leader. Everything I say in this episode has only become more true since I originally recorded this back in 2022. All the leadership development programs that I've been a part of, designing and delivering, often start with this foundational point, which is leadership is different than management. And we don't often recognize that. In fact, we think good leadership is good management and the two things are just fundamentally different. And most of us are really good managers. We get things done, we do them right, we execute tasks, we follow through on our commitments. And that's great, we need that. We, in fact, the world requires more managers than leaders in it to like, function on a day to day basis. But that can also kill your inner leader. If you get too comfortable just managing your way through life, then you miss opportunities to think and act like a leader, which is to question what's on the roadmap, to innovate how you choose to move forward and to envision and communicate a vision for a better future.
The lessons in today's episode can be applied to both the professional and the personal. Because how you show up in your community, in your family, in your day to day life, can be activated when you think like a leader and not just like a manager. When you think, you know, walking your kids to the neighborhood park, hey, there should be a crosswalk here. I'm going to do something about that. That is an act of leadership, not just thinking, okay, when do I have to drop him off at gymnastics and when do I need to pick her up from daycare? And doing all the motions, like, going through all the motions, that is executing your day to day life, that can get tiresome.
Innovating, questioning the way things are, envisioning a better future for yourself, for your family, for your career, or for your community. That is thinking like a leader. And so even though in this episode I kind of focus on the impacts of having a leadership mindset at work and the impacts it has on women's careers in particular, I just want you to go into today's conversation thinking bigger than that. So let's pick things up right where I started back in 2022.
So if you've been working hard and you pride yourself on being detail oriented, consistently excellent, but you still feel stuck and passed over for the promotions or leadership opportunities that you want. Today's episode is really for you. Because as frustrating as it may be, in order to get to the next level in our careers, we often have to go above and beyond excelling in our current role to show that we're ready for growth. We have to show that we're already thinking ahead and acting like a leader.
Now, one common misconception I see is that people mistake management skills for leadership skills, and they're fundamentally different. But those differences are not well understood. Don't get me wrong, one is not better than the other. They're both important. All of us need to call upon our internal manager and our internal leader in order to get the work done, to keep constantly learning and growing and iterating. So both that manager mindset and leader mindset often coexist within the same person.
But more often than not, you tend to lean one way or the other. And for about 90% of the women that I work with, they lean towards thinking like a manager. Now again, there's nothing wrong with being an excellent manager. Frankly, most of our jobs require the ability to manage projects and get things done efficiently. But in order to show your leadership potential to those around you and to get opportunities to really rise in the workplace, we have to start showcasing our leadership mindset even before it's being asked of us.
Now, there are many ways that a manager mindset differs from a leader mindset, but today I'd like to focus on how those differences show up across three dimensions in particular. First, let's break it down. When it comes to tasks versus people, managers tend to be task focused. They get to work and think, okay, what do I need to get done today? They thrive on that dopamine hit that you get when you cross something off your to do list and clear the decks. That feeling of having an empty inbox or an empty to do list at the end of the day or week. And they're focused primarily on getting things done and meeting clients needs.
Leaders, on the other hand, are more people focused. They wake up and think, who do I need to set up for success today? Or who do I need to check in with today? They focus on equipping people and teams with the resources that they need and removing barriers in their path so that they're not the bottleneck. They focus on inspiring people to deliver their best performance and on anticipating client needs, not just meeting them.
So if you're flexing your leadership mindset alongside your manager mindset. Let's talk about how that might impact how you approach an everyday project. Like just writing a simple memo, a manager might think, okay, how do I start, by outlining what I want to say in this memo? And then drafting it and then sending it to my boss for approval. They're focused on the step by step tasks involved and that's great, but a leader might approach this differently. A leader might say, okay, how do I start, by briefly talking over the scope of this memo with all the stakeholders that this will impact so that I can really understand what they need covered in this memo in order for it to actually equip them to move forward effectively? And then I'll get to drafting it.
Now, it's not about being a manager or a leader. It's about challenging you to think about how you approach your everyday work and everyday tasks by shifting from manager mindset to leader mindset, or just maybe shifting from leader mindset to manager mindset, depending on which one you're currently using more than the other. What would it look like to practice using both mindsets and how would that inform the work you're already doing?
Let's talk through how this looks on a whole other dimension, executing versus innovating. Managers keep the trains running on time. They're focused on managing projects and programs with precision, driving towards deadlines and fulfilling promises made. They think about what meetings are on the horizon. They need to prepare for, what tasks will need to get done in order to execute the work, and what they can do personally to influence the outcome for the better.
Now, while managers keep those trains running on time, leaders think about innovating the mode of transport altogether. Can we make a faster train or would things work better if we took an airplane? Or perhaps we should change the destination altogether. Leaders question assumptions and think about what should be on everyone's to do list rather than adhering to what's on their list at any given moment. They ask big picture questions and question how things are being done sometimes much to the chagrin of managers around them as they drive towards an ultimate big picture vision.
Now, a client that I worked with in our LEVEL UP: leadership accelerator program was thinking like a manager when she was asked to produce a slide deck for her boss and her boss's boss covering how she would expand a project that she'd executed well in Canada for the entire continent of Europe. She was being considered for a big promotion at the time that would enable her to actually do this and this presentation was going to be her opportunity to show her boss and her boss's boss that she was ready for that promotion and was already thinking like a leader who was ready for more responsibility.
So she walked me through her presentation, which we talked through on one of her executive coaching calls. And what it did is it looked back on what worked well in her Canada project and then outlined how she'd replicate those best practices in Europe. I challenged her to think bigger. I wanted her to see what other organizations in her industry were doing in Europe so that she could learn from those external influences. I wanted her to do more market research into macro trends that might be impacting her target audience in Europe right now. I wanted her to think bigger, think outside of her organization, think about innovating and questioning assumptions, and think about what she should be doing when expanding this project into Europe, not just how to do what she did before because it worked well.
But that's not what they asked me to do, she said to me on her coaching call. I know, I replied, but this is a time to go above and beyond what is being asked of you. So I challenged her to bring her leadership mindset in and not stop at merely executing what she was asked to do, but rather how she would focus on innovating and improving the project if she was given the opportunity. And I'm happy to report that her presentation was a smash. Her boss and her boss's boss were absolutely blown away by all of the information that she brought in, both from her past experience and external competitors, and analysis that she brought in from current events and news and industry competitors, and that this level up client landed not only a promotion but also a hefty pay bump too.
Now let's break down how a manager mindset differs from a leader mindset on one final dimension, doing things right versus doing the right thing. Managers tend to focus on doing things right, while leaders tend to focus more on doing the right thing. Now, approaching work with a manager mindset means you're focused on adhering to the rules, getting the details right, and making sure that you're being thorough and precise, which is very important. Project managers need to make sure we're sticking to deadlines. Product managers need to make sure the development team is getting all the bugs out of the new feature before it goes live. And program managers need to make sure the clients are getting their survey results in on time so we can continue to execute the program.
Approaching work like a leader might mean you frankly struggle with the details and you aren't as focused on getting things done perfectly well. Instead, you're focused on how you're leaving people feeling about working with you, and whether or not the rules you're following align with your overall values, your whole value set, your sort of philosophy on what you feel is morally right and wrong. Did the project go exactly as planned? Who cares? Who even knows? Rather than being bogged down with those little details, you're focused on finessing those relationships so you can parlay them into more opportunities and make sure everyone's feeling good about how you're moving forward.
So as a quick example, when I recently returned from a client's leadership training that we had the pleasure of running a few months ago, I was for sure thinking about all the to do list items that had to get done, the invoice that needed to be prepared, the photos that had to be uploaded, the survey results that we needed to cull through and analyze. But what I was more focused on was this. How is that one speaker doing, who we featured at the event, but had a really traumatizing incident involving bedbugs at the hotel that we'd put her up in? I'm worried about her mental health, not to mention her physical health, after the grief that this hotel has been putting her through. And because they've essentially been gaslighting her this entire time about the existence of bedbugs. And so calling her to check in with her, lend an ear, and make a plan for how we could help was my number one priority for the day. Why? Because I'm focused on doing the right thing, even if it means that getting everything else right had to wait.
Look, at the end of the day, a manager and a leader mindset both serve an important purpose. While a leadership mindset can sometimes make you seem a little aloof and out of touch with your head in the clouds chasing whatever ideas captured your attention for the day, or whatever you deem to be most important, this approach can serve an important purpose in keeping everyone thinking into the future and tapping into their highest collective purpose. Operating from a manager mindset can sometimes keep you almost too bogged down in process and tasks, but it also helps keep our organizations grounded, operational, and with an attention to detail that ensures quality control.
So what's the takeaway for women leaders on the rise? Making the shift from thinking exclusively like a manager to also thinking more like a leader is not easy, and it doesn't happen without intentional effort. But if you want to prove that you're ready to lead and you're ready for more responsibility, you've got to start acting like it first. This is Especially true for women, who are less likely to be seen as having leadership potential, even when their past performance is rated highly. People, both men and women, take bets on who's going to be able to lead, says researcher Herminia Ibarra. And leading, it turns out, has very much to do with articulating a different vision of the future.
So the question becomes this. Are you mostly spending your time approaching your work like a manager focusing on getting things done and done well, or like a leader, focusing on the future, on people, and on purpose? Regardless of what is being asked of you in your current role, what would it feel like to pause and to think about what should be on your to do list as opposed to just effectively and efficiently cruising through it? What would it feel like to re-evaluate what doing the right thing looks like on behalf of your clients, constituents, or the broader community you serve? And what would it look like to look at your calendar for the upcoming week and say, who do I need to be connecting with or empowering and enabling in order to be most impactful, as opposed to just what do I need to get done?
So I want you to take this challenge to heart, take some time in the next week and ask yourself, what would it look like to incorporate a little more leader mindset alongside your manager mindset? Flex your leadership, sort of muscles, here for a minute and challenge yourself to do more critical thinking and analysis and big picture thinking than what's even being asked of you in your current role. I'd be curious to see not only what your experience internally is like, how it feels different to approach your work this way, but also how those around you react and respond to you weighing in with that more leadership mindset focus. And I think making small shifts like this can actually have a profound impact.
I just came back from a closing celebration dinner with a LEVEL UP: leadership accelerator cohort that we ran with a bunch of amazing, high achieving, brilliant doctors as a part of the Stanford Advancement for Women in Medicine, working primarily with junior faculty women at Stanford Medicine. And even though it had been over nine months since I had taught anything about the difference between a leader versus a manager, when we celebrated their graduation from this accelerator program, we went around during the dinner and had each and every participant say a few words about what was most impactful for them.
And I cannot tell you how flabbergasted I was to hear time and again so many members of this cohort said, understanding the difference between a leader and a manager, and how even though I have to do both in my role, I have to be a good manager of my work. I'm feeling challenged to show up more and more as a leader. And this slight shift has had a profound impact on how these women show up in their roles and contribute to conversations at work that they were already a part of. But they're weighing in with a different mindset and that is getting noticed by their bosses, who we also had celebrate with us at this closing dinner. It was so incredible to hear their bosses, chiefs of medical divisions, department chairs, you know, very high level medical professionals weigh in and say, I have noticed a tonal shift. I have noticed this person who went through this program showing up at a higher level. And it's just, it's really incredible that after nine months of even mentioning it, going by that that was the key takeaway that so many women have from our LEVEL UP program.
So if you want to learn more, if you want to go deeper with me on this, definitely check out Level up, uh, you if either for our public cohorts that we're running a few times a year at bossedup.org/levelup or how we can help you and your team and your organization create a custom LEVEL UP: leadership accelerator for the women in your, or frankly, all kinds of folks across the gender spectrum at your workplace.
Links to all the resources I mentioned in today's episode can be found at bossedup.org/episode509 that's bossedup.org/episode509. You'll also find a fully written out transcript and a blog post synopsis of today's key takeaways that you can share with the people in your world.
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Now I want to hear from you. Let's keep the conversation going as always in the Bossed Up Courage Community on Facebook or in the Bossed Up Group on LinkedIn. And until next time, let's keep bossin’ in pursuit of our purpose and together let's lift as we climb.
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