Hiring Kung-Fu: The Difference between Leaders & Managers

Published 20070830 by Olivier Blanchard | E-mail this post

I had a great conversation with someone about the topic of leaders vs. managers earlier this week, and was reminded of this post from about a year ago:

(Note - If you are an HR professional, you may not like what follows.)

"Managers make sure that work follows an established process. They don't like change. Leaders, on the other hand, are restless creatures like gamblers who get excited about doing things a new way.

"Now, here's the problem: There's a great need for talent and a glut of unqualified candidates. It's going to take a leader to figure out how to move forward. And Recruiting is full of managers.

"One solution: take recruiting away from HR and give it to marketing people who know how to sell. Another: give it to the operational leaders who have the knowledge needed to assess the candidates technical skills."

Per Kevin Wheeler, via The Recruiting Animal blog.

Whether you think that's genius or complete bunk, read Kevin's entire article here. Whatever side of the fence you happen to be on, it is well worth ten minutes.

Labels: hiring, HR, leadership