By: Bert Zethof

The consensus in the research literature is that management and leadership are different. Managers control and supervise, while leaders inspire towards an appealing vision. Both functions are necessary in the right places, at the right times.

The question is can the mantle of manager and leader be effectively worn by the same person? Can one person be a manager and leader at the same time? Should she be?

From the perspective of the CEO, if she focuses only on management then she risks the organization becoming locked into the status quo and being by-passed by the market and more nimble competitors. Leadership is necessary to keep the organization fresh and in forward motion.

The reality for business owners is that they have to be both a manager and a leader. Leadership must happen at the front edge of the organization, the interface between external change and internal response, or the business eventually fades away.

Yet in the process of developing a sustainable business model, the leader needs to ensure that management processes are put in place. The leader ensures that systems and processes are developed and that someone is "managing them." This is where delegation takes place: assign the task of building and managing the internal mechanics of the business to others.

Of course, the CEO must keep certain high level management responsibilities too, such as fiduciary responsiblity.

It is worthy noting that relying solely on one person to lead the organization isn't optimal either. Change is happening too fast and one person can't possibly know all the answers. Now everyone in the organization must be a leader too. As Seth Godin, the marketing guru says, "leadership is the art of giving people a platform for spreading ideas that work."

So, not only can the roles of manager and leader be carried out by one person, but everyone should be both a manager and a leader. The trick is knowing which hat to wear for any given situation.