While almost everyone will find themselves in a position of leadership at some time, that doesn’t mean that everyone will be a good leader. In fact, they may not be a leader at all. It is possible for someone to give you a position, title or rank but that doesn’t make you a leader, it just makes you the boss and not all bosses are leaders. Sometimes, the leader isn’t even the boss at all. Here are three key differences between being a boss and being a leader.
- Leaders lead from the front
Too often, people view leadership as a position from which they get to tell others what to do. A boss will sit behind a desk and issue orders, a leader actually gets out in front and sets a good example for their team to follow. In combat, a commanding officer may hang back where it is safe and issue orders but a true leader will actually lead their team into battle.
- Leaders take responsibility for failures and give others the glory for successes
Most people know what it is like to work for a boss that will gladly take all the credit for any successes but just as quickly throw someone else under the bus when things go wrong. Leaders believe that the buck stops with them, so they will take always take responsibility for any mistakes their team makes but will generally pass on any accolades for their accomplishments to their team.
- Leaders empower their teams, bosses micromanage
Leaders have a genuine desire to see their teams grow, blossom and thrive. In fact, most leaders consider themselves to have succeeded when their team reaches a place where they can function and thrive just fine without their leader. To that end, they will often empower their team to make critical decisions but will also take responsibility if things go wrong. Bosses, on the other hand, don’t want to pay the price for any bad decisions their team might make. As a result, they are constantly hovering and are more likely to have pointless meetings to check on every single step of progress their team makes. In fact, they can sometimes have so many meetings that a team can find it hard to get anything done at all.