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You Manage Things, You Lead PeopleTomas KuceraSenior Director, Global R&D Operations at SolarWinds

You may hear different definition what the difference between mana ement and leadership is! One of the most popular definition is that "#ana ement is doin thin s ri ht and leadership is doin the ri ht thin s!" Thou h $subscribe to a certain e%tent to this definition $ would offer a different one "#ana ement is a science!'eadership is an art!" #ana ement is a set of techni(ues you can learn at school or from some mana ement

boo)! $t helps you with mana in thin s! *ro+ect mana ement, for e%ample, you et set of instructions, clearlydefined process, chec)lists, tables, basic rules that if followed will ma)e you a successful pro+ect mana er!

owe-er, this doesn.t apply to people! *eople, in their nature, are unmana eable! You cannot ha-e themcompletely under your control and they may always react in unpredictable ways! $n fact, $ would ar ue that youcannot mana e people at all! Sometimes you may ha-e the impression that you mana e people but that is +ustyou tryin to fool yourself! Yes, you ha-e certain uidelines and techni(ues that may wor) in some situations,

but it is an art to )now when to employ which tric)! $n fact, not only you cannot mana e people, you don.t want

to! /y 0mana in 1 people you are ta)in away their creati-ity, ability to decide for themsel-es and any intrinsicmoti-ation they may ha-e!

$ used to wor) in a matri% or ani2ation in both types of roles a pro+ect mana er and a people mana er! $t too)me some time to reali2e that 0people mana er1 is an o%ymoron! $ wasn.t mana in people! $ was 0responsible1for them but $ was mana in thin s and processes! $ was mana in bud et, $ was mana in performance re-iew

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process, hirin and firin process, personal de-elopment process, and bunch of other processes but $ wasn.t0mana in people1! When it comes to people the only chance you ha-e is to lead them!

'eadership is an art and it can be learned! Talent is nice and will ma)e thin s easier at the be innin but at theend of the day it is not what matters! $ would compare it to drawin a picture! Some of us are born with betters)ills3talent in drawin pictures! owe-er, almost e-ery one of us can become a reasonably s)illed whenfocusin our effort on learnin how to draw a picture! $4m not sayin we would become the second *icasso butwe could be reasonably ood! The same oes to leadership! 5lmost anyone can become a leader if she puts theeffort to it! $t will be easier for some than for others but it can be achie-ed! 5t the end it will be (uestion ofac(uired s)ills, learned beha-ior, our internal -alues, our -ision, attitude and our own purpose in this life! Theseare the thin s that determine whether you succeed or fail at becomin a reat leader!

So where would you start6 $ would su est to consider these aspects as a solid foundation of your futureleadership

/ein a leader means to have genuine interest in people ! That is the sin le most important thin that will dri-eyour success as a leader!

/ein a leader means passion ! You need to ha-e passion for your wor), passion for the -ision, passion for

wor)in with people, passion for chan in the world!

/ein a leader means trust ! You need to trust in yourself and trust in others! You need to trust in e-eryone.sability to achie-e and their moti-ation to do the best!

/ein a leader means having a positive attitude ! You see problems as challen es 7$ )now it is a clich89! Youalways find a way how to turn e-en the most difficult situation around to et out the ood and lea-e the bad

behind!

/ein a leader means being humble ! You need to help others learn, row and shine! You don.t want thespotli ht on you, but on others to whom you helped!

/ein a leader means doing lots of work ! 5s with anythin else in life, if you want to be a leader you need tospend hours and hours of learnin and wor)in hard! Remember that if you as) people to do more than you arewillin to do yourself chances are you won.t succeed!

So the ne%t time you will be as)ed to mana e people, )indly refuse and offer to lead them while mana in the processes!

*hoto Shutterstoc), $nc!