Community Comment: Part 41 - Always do the right thing, even when nobody's watching
- Management is doing the things right
- Leadership is doing the right thing
- This Peter Drucker quote is about the nature of one's actions
- Always do the right thing, even when nobody's watching
The comments I provided in reaction to a community discussion thread.
Former Senior Advisor at The World Bank and World Economic Forum:
Peter Drucker famously wrote
“Management is doing the things right
(focus on implementation and efficiency)
While
Leadership is doing the right thing”
(focus 🧘♀️ on ethics and vision)
Chief Potential Officer at Training Design & Delivery Firm:
I don't see management as a subset or circle inside the role of leadership, but rather being a separate overlapping circle ( think venn diagram) . The tasks of managing things are important, and largely different from the tasks of leading people. A successful leader in today's complex and uncertain world must do both sets of these tasks/roles effectively.
Gfesser:
I suggest re-reading the Drucker quote: "management is doing the things right, while leadership is doing the right thing." This quote is about the nature of one's actions, not about the differences between "managing things" and "leading people." Doing the right thing may or may not involve other people, but it's always going to involve at least one person, yourself: always make sure you're doing the right thing, even when nobody else is around.