I like to add Leadership to the E-Myth pyramid. Leadership can happen at any level.
I’m writing this post for my bestest friend who commented the other day about finding herself president of an organization when she didn’t know much about how it worked. While understanding what an organization does and how it does it is important, the president’s role determines whether or not it is critical to know everything from the get-go. Some presidents are leaders, others are managers.
Now I have no doubt that Suna [oops, I wasn’t supposed to name names in this post] can learn how the organization works and do it very quickly. But that’s really only critical if she views the role as management. If it’s a leadership position, it’s more important for her to build consensus (something she’s really, really good at) and point the direction.
Here’s the distinction:
Leaders identify what to do.
Managers figure out how to do it.
And technicians (workers) focus on the tasks needed to do it.
I am used to speaking in the E-Myth nomenclature, but I’ve found many people who haven’t read Michael Gerber’s excellent book are thrown by the term “Entrepreneur.” In the corporate world, people who function as entrepreneurs are more likely to be called “executives,” but not all executives are entrepreneurs and not all entrepreneurs are effective leaders. The difference often boils down to vision and leadership. And while leadership is much more likely to be implemented in an organization when it comes from the top down, people who exhibit leadership tend to rise to the top of the pyramid. But when I speak of a Leadership Team, I mean people who operate to provide leadership at the Entrepreneurial or Executive level.
Hermann says please like and share!