Hi Everyone,

Coming from the privately held business sector and having the opportunity to experience and develop my knowledge of every facet of a manufacturing business, is one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Having been an employee for a privately held multi-million dollar business for 11 years and then getting the opportunity to be the 100% owner of the company was a real eye-opening experience.
One of the glaring differences of becoming an entrepreneur instead of a highly paid executive is the considerable amount of responsibility you now are solely responsible for. The biggest challenge I had was, looking honestly at your strengths and weaknesses and identifying who you really are as a business person. You must first and foremost come to terms as to where you belong on a daily basis to ensure the companies success.
It is extremely important to understand your role moving forward and where you can best impact your company. Here comes the BIG question. Are you a leader or are you a manger? It is a very important question, because the two roles are very different! Here is what I learned, and why it is so important to your future.
My situation was quite different than a lot of owners and entrepreneur's, simply because I worked for the company for so many years. I found it very challenging to assume the role of owner, even though I was President for quite awhile. When I was president I was still an employee, being the owner is quite a different story.
First off, I would like to say that I believe, with all my heart, that Leader's are born! You can not teach leadership, you can however learn to be a very highly skilled, effective manager. There are some radical differences which I found out in the process which I hope will be helpful to anyone who currently owns a business or for the aspiring entrepreneur!
- Leadership- A leader satisfies & motivates by addressing peoples basic needs.
- A manager on the other hand is task oriented and tries to control people to attain expected results.
- A leader energizes people to buy into their vision for change, which is necessary to move the business forward, in an ever-changing work platform.
- A manager tests, implements and measures processes to minimize errors to ensure predictable results.
- A leader instills in their employees a sense of recognition, self-esteem and a real sense of contributing to achieve a higher energy level
- A manager monitor's the workflow to instill order throughout the organization
- Leader's have a set purpose and vision, they bring the organization to levels they have never been
- Manager's properly organize and staff
- Leader's align!
Do you see the difference?
Which one are you? Also, it is important to note that neither is a bad thing, but it is important to be honest in your self-assesment. Don't forget it is a good thing if you hire people that have more developed skill sets in areas you are lacking, it is OK to not have that expertise. If you can be honest and identify these simple things, you will be WAY ahead of the game!! I assure you.
I hope you get some insights out of this post. It is meant to help. Any questions or comments? I would be happy to address one and all. Until next time. Thanks for reading Joe.