Leadership vs. Management

When I was in business school, my specialization was "Leadership and Management," which sometimes prompts people to poke fun at me and ask me how my MBA taught me to lead and manage people, as if that can't possibly be taught (I believe it can, but that's not the point).

Earlier this year I read Good to Great, a book that I'm pretty sure they should never let you out of business school without having read it first, but whatever. It's all about what differentiates good companies from great ones.

One of the things the book talks about is the difference between leadership and management, something that I don't think any of my MBA classes ever really touched on. The difference, to put it far less eloquently than the book does, is that management is about strategic direction, and leadership is about accomplishing tasks that fulfill that direction. The problem with a lot of companies is that they get so bogged down in DOING that they never take a step back to wonder if they're even doing the right things.

This resonated with me not in a business sense, but in a LIFE sense. And I have a stupid yet perfect example of it.

In early 2009 I was going through a rough patch, and so in order to distract myself from the things that were bothering me I started watching a lot more TV. I found television to be a convenient way to put my thoughts on hold for 30 to 60 minutes. During this period I became a fan of American Idol.

In 2010, having been so into American Idol the prior year, I added it to my spring TV rotation. I kept watching every week, only this time, things were different. I wasn't riveted to the screen. I would fast forward certain parts, or get distracted by Facebook during performances. I didn't even bother watching the results shows, opting to just find out later who got kicked off.

Yet I kept watching. Because I HAD to. I'm a fan of American Idol now! I watch this show! Must check this off the weekly TV to-do list!

One day, I had a realization.

I FUCKING HATE AMERICAN IDOL.

And so, just like that, I stopped watching. I have no idea what happened for the rest of that season or any season since then.

When it came to my television habits, I was leading my life, but I wasn't managing it. I got so caught up in the shows I thought I liked and stressing myself out about whether or not I had actually seen that week's episode that I was completely ignoring the fact that I wasn't even getting enjoyment out of it anymore.

TV is unfortunately not the only area of my life where I feel like I'm going through the motions but not actually thinking critically about whether what I'm doing even makes any sense. So I'm going to try to be more cognizant of the things I do, particularly the routine ones, and think about whether I'm doing them because I've always done them or because they're really helping me achieve some sort of goal or purpose. Results TBD! Or you know, not.

And in an unrelated (or possibly related, if I gave it some more thought) note, I'm quitting drinking for a month. Extra extra, read all about it.