“Leadership is different from management, but not for the reasons most people think.  Leadership isn’t mystical and mysterious.  It has nothing to do with having “charisma” or other exotic personality traits.  It is not the province of a chosen few.  Nor is leadership necessarily better than management or a replacement for it.  Rather, leadership and management are two distinctive and complementary systems of  action.  Each has its own function and characteristic activities.  Both are necessary for success in an increasingly complex and volatile environment”  like our government. 

In our next election process, we must actively seek out people and be sure they have leadership capabilities. Leadership complements management, it does not replace it.  Management is about coping with complexity.  Whereas, leadership is about coping with change. 

As we all know our leadership in this country is going to “hell in a hand basket” and we must do a better job the next time of convincing people we have to have an experienced leader not a community organizer. 

This information was given to me in a training class and the article was written by John P. Kotter in the Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1990. 

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