Senator John McCain gave an outstanding speach at this year’s Tailhook Symposium which centered around the centenial of Naval Aviation. He credited leadership as one of the key success factors in the profession of crashlanding, in a controlled manner, aircraft onto ships. His remarks, while obviously directed at the Naval Aviation fraternity, apply equally to Pennsylvania Avenue, Wall Street, and several other addresses that come to mind.
“Today, we hear a lot about ‘management’ and not enough about leadership. That worries me. One thing of which I am certain – there is a great difference between managers and leaders. Good managers are plentiful – in fact, our nation graduates over 150,000 MBAs ever year. But true leaders are rare. And believe me, there is a difference
–Leaders inspire people; managers, well, they “manage” people and assets.
–Leaders think about protecting and promoting their people; managers think about protecting their own careers.
–Leaders take charge and accept responsibility; managers often pass the buck to higher authority for fear of making a wrong decision.
–Leaders take risks when necessary; managers are taught to avoid risks whenever possible.
“Ronald Reagan was a leader – Jimmy Carter was a manager. Halsey, Nimitz, and Spruance were leaders. Henderson, McClusky, and Waldron were leaders.
The whole thing is worth your time.
H/T to CDR Sal.
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