Management and Leadership

Just read a nice summary of management as managing complexity, vs leadership as managing change.

Once you read something like that it just seems so obvious, but perhaps that is what characterizes good insights - they are immediately clear, understandable and make you think about something in a subtly different way. They just seem obvious after the event.

We are going through so much change and growth right now in Claromentis that I feel my current responsibility is indeed managing that change, so more akin to leadership - but oddly in order to manage that process we also need to put in place a lot of traditional management tools that are detail orientated, and provide a focus on the operational side of the business - such as well defined appraisal objectives, improved financial systems, project management tools and account management.

I suppose this is logical, as a company changes to evolve the business model in significant ways a focus on the detailed implications for working capital and resources is required to ensure that operations can help you make it through the change. There is little point in working so hard to turn that oil tanker in a new direction and then running out of cash to pay the salaries before you make it through the straits.

So it seems to me that in order to lead the change, you do need a lot of data that is more traditionally viewed as management information. At least in my experience..