Leader V/S Manager

So what is the difference between a manager and a leader? Which one are you? You need to first understand the difference between a leader and a manager before you determine which you are.

I just finished reading the motivating The Wizard of Ads by Roy H. William. The following story is from his book and it should help you determine if you’re a leader or a manager.

What Makes Alexander Great?

Alexander is a dreamer who inspires everyone around him with visions of grand possibilities. Always the first over the wall of an enemy city, Alex is wounded in the neck at the Granicus River, in the thigh at Issus, and in the shoulder at Gaza, but he never quits fighting, never quits shouting encouragement to his men. A broken leg in Turkistan and a pierced lung in India barely slow him down. Is it any wonder he’s never lost a battle?

Alex commits to memory his soldiers’ names and deeds, calling each by name when publicly extolling their exploits. He often sends men home to rest and spend time with their families. Is it any wonder they adore him?

In Alexander’s presence, common men become radioactive. An unstoppable natural leader, he conquers all the known world before he is thirty-three and is charging off to conquer the unknown world when he is overtaken by illness and dies.

The life of Alexander profoundly illustrates the difference between leadership and management. Possibly the greatest leader ever to stride the earth, Alexander is a lousy manager. His hatred of bureaucracy and his need for excitement prevent him from building a governmental machine of systems, accountabilities, and procedures. Consequently, his legendary empire disintegrates immediately upon his death.

Not once in the following fifteen hundred years will the Romans have a leader who can fill the shadow of Alexander the Great. Yet their system for management will hold the Roman Empire together decade after decade, century after century, even when grievously incompetent leaders impose amazingly stupid decisions on their people.

Not even the most brilliant manager can do the job of a natural leader, yet even more rarely will a strong leader be a consistent manager. Success is the result of having the right person in the right job at the right time. Are you a leader or a manager? Which does your company need right now? There is a time for revolution and a time for evolution. Which time is this?

Can You Read

clipped from cubicleescapeartist.com Cambridge University Cognitive Research Filed under: Uncategorized, Accelerated Learning, Languages — timferriss @ 12:52 pm Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55% of plepoe can. I cdnuolt blveiee waht I was rdanieg. Due to the phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it dseno’t mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are. The olny iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses, and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef but the wrod as a wlohe. Azanmig, huh? And I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

Most people dream of traveling the world and being able to earn a living from anywhere in the world at any time. Here is a portion of an article that provides some great info on creating a mobile life.

clipped from travel.news.yahoo.com What are the biggest misconceptions people have about work, and making time for travel? Tim Ferriss: The biggest misconception about work is that you have to spend most of your life doing it. Take a step back and ask yourself a few questions: How do decisions change if retirement isn't an option? What is the exact dollar amount per month you need to live a well-off mobile lifestyle? The idea of sacrificing 20-30 years in the prime of life should be seen for what it is: absolutely unnecessary. So what is the best way to negotiate your way into a mobile work lifestyle? TF: Whatever you negotiate with a boss, the ground rules are the same: make yourself as expensive as possible to lose — and ask at the right time. Many people often can't stop thinking about work minutiae, even when they're far away from the traditional office setting. How do you get your mind, and not just your body, out of the office? clipmarks" style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" border="0" height="17" width="58">

What is innovation and how can companies encourage it?

There are two reasons that companies innovate:
1. - They are leaders, they choose to innovate because they want to maintain their status as leaders.
2. - They are forced to innovate. These companies innovate because if they don't they will be forced out of their market.

Many companies don't understand what innovation is so they struggle to develop a program or system that encourages it. There are several definitions of innovation, the one that is the most accurate to business is: Innovation - is an idea that is driven to the profitability of return on investment.

Most companies mistake innovation for inventions. An invention is simply an idea. Most companies generate numerous great ideas every single day, but these ideas have very short lives. Innovation actually begins once the idea is born. Companies who wish to innovate must learn how to measure innovation.

If you can't measure it, you can't manage it. This is the disconnect for most companies, they can't figure out how to measure innovation. Before any real attempt to develop a company that encourages innovation, they must first figure out how they will measure innovation.

So the question of the day is: how can companies effectively measure innovation?

Here's an interesting article about negotiating for a pay raise. http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/03/technology/03money.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5087%0A&em&en=83cec6e19f632991&ex=1173070800

Teachings from The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle by Jim Rohn



Change comes from 2 sources:
1.) Desperation
2.) Inspiration


1st Piece to the Life Puzzle- Philosophy

Thoughts + Ideas + Information = Philosophy

- The way that each of us thinks makes the major difference in where each of us arrives.
- We are all artists, with but only one canvas to paint. That canvas is our lives. Some paint garbage, others masterpieces.
- What we think determines what we believe; what we believe influences what we choose; what we choose defines what we are; and what we are attracts what we have.
- Failure is nothing more than a few errors in judgment repeated everyday.
- Motivation is not how people change their lives. To change a life we must first change our thinking habits.
- If a person is a fool and becomes motivated, he is merely a motivated fool.
- Success is easy; however, things that are easy to do are also easy not to do.
- Everything we would ever need to become rich and powerful and sophisticated is within our reach. The major reason so few take advantage of all that we have is simply neglect.


2nd Piece to the Life Puzzle- Attitude

Our lives are greatly affected by what we know since what we know determines the decisions we will make.

Philosophy = Logic
Attitude = Emotion

The current moment is where our better future begins.

- Our goals and ambitions of the past are bringing to us present rewards. If our current rewards are small, then our past efforts were small. And if today’s effort is small the future reward will be small as well.
- What our future holds will simply be a mirror image of our current philosophy and life.
- What stops us from recognizing our inherent gifts and talents is a poor attitude about ourselves.
- Success moves toward those who search for progress not toward those who need or want its rewards.
- Attitude determines how much of the future we are allowed to see.


3rd Piece to the Life Puzzle- Activity

Life is not designed to give rewards in proportion to our level of needs; it gives them in proportion to our level of deservingness.

- Whether we actually achieve our goals is ultimately determines by our activity.
- We must find ways to demonstrate on the outside all of the value that we possess on the inside.
- We all say that we want to succeed, but sooner or later our level of activity must equal our level of intent.

We will all experience one pain or the other- the pain of discipline or the pain of regret- but the difference is that the pain of discipline weighs only ounces while the pain of regret weighs tons.

- It is not what we get that makes us valuable; it is what we become in the process of doing that brings value into our lives.
- … with diminished labor comes diminished rewards.
- The punishment for excessive rest is mediocrity.
- We must remember that discipline is a requirement for progress, and that affirmations without discipline is the beginning of delusion.
- It is so easy to mistake motion for progress and movement for achievement.
- We must become wise enough to use today to plan tomorrow.


4th Piece to the Life Puzzle- Results

Past efforts = Results

- Results are the harvest that comes from our past efforts. If the farmer has planted only a handful of seeds in the spring, he cannot expect to reap a very bountiful harvest in the fall. Likewise, if a person has engaged in only minimal activity in the past, he should not expect significant results in the present.
- Results are always in direct proportion to effort.
- If we are not happy with our current results, then the place to begin is with ourselves. The answer to the good life lies in becoming more than we currently are so that we can attract more than we currently have.
- We cannot have more without first - becoming more.
- We grow personally and then we advance materially. Unfortunately, the vast majority seems to have the plan reversed.

There is no shortage of opportunity in America. There is only a shortage of those who will apply themselves to the basics that success requires.

The great challenge of life is making measurable progress in a reasonable amount of time.

Results are the BEST measurement of human progress.


5th Piece to the Life Puzzle- Lifestyle

Life change doesn’t come from inspiration; life change comes from perspiration and preparation.

We don’t have to be rich to live richly.

Happiness is an art, not an accident.


The Fundamentals of Success:
- What we know.
- How we feel about what we know.
- What we do with, and about, all that we feel and know.

Today is yesterday’s tomorrow!

I'm currently reading "The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle" by Jim Rohn. This is an amazing book. Something that I read last night really caused me to think. Jim said, that we all have to endure some type of pain. We can either endure the pain of daily disciplining ourselves to become more successful or at the end of our lives we can endure the pain of regret. Regret of not living our lives to their full potential. Regret of not achieving more than we did. Regret of not leaving a legacy for our children and others to follow.

So I'm asking you, what type of pain do you want to endure?

More book reviews and free resources

Shake it off !

Here is a great story that talks about how to deal with adversity.


The story goes that there was an old farmer in south Louisiana who had a mule that was older than the farmer. The mule had was so old that the farmer didn't have much use for him anymore. One day the farmer decided that he was going to put the old mule out of his misery, so he dug a grave for the mule. The problem was that the farmer had the mule so long that it was like a friend to him, he couldn'
t muster the courage to kill him. So the farmer decided to lower the mule in the grave and then just begin shoveling dirt on top of him.

However, the mule had a different plan...see every time the farm through a shovel full of dirt in the grave it would hit the mule's back and instead of just standing there the mule would just shake the dirt off his back and then step up on the new dirt that was thrown in the grave. Much to the farmers surprise after a few minutes of shoveling dirt the mule just walked right out of the hole that was intended to be his grave.


We can all learn a lesson from this old mule. See every time that he was hit with opposition he would just shake it off and then step up. If we could just learn to be thick skinned like the mule and not let opposition and criticism get us down, each of our lives would end up drastically differnt.

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