Esha Kakkar
Managers and Leaders – The Battle Continues….

Management Guru Peter Drucker once said, “Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” The success of every organization relies on the creativity of leaders and the pragmatism of its managers. But many people think that managers and leaders are the same; they have the same goals and ultimately strive for the same thing- Success. So are they really that different? And more importantly, how would I define myself – as a Manager or a Leader? I started thinking about this question after reading an article by Abraham Zaleznik (Harvard Business Review, January 2004) for a course on Entrepreneurship that I was taking. With an ever-growing culture of start-ups and technological innovation, the differentiation between managers and leaders is becoming more and more evident. When most of us think of leaders we immediately think of names like Mahatma Gandhi or John F. Kennedy, or more recently of Barack Obama and have a perception of greatness associated with them. After all they are the harbingers of change- they are the ones who inspire and seek to make a difference in the way people think. But are they the only ones required to implement the change? That’s where the managers come in. They are generally viewed as the tough, persistent businessmen who are only concerned with profits. Since these two sets of people think so differently, clashes are bound to arise. However, when conflicts between them are not handled well, the entire process of innovation may be at risk.
In the healthcare industry, we are forever surrounded by innovation and electrifying creativity. Scientists often feel that this process of creative thinking is often obstructed by the business managers, who do not have sufficient technical knowledge, and are left baffled and frustrated by their inability to manage their