Managers and leaders are two different types of people since managers’ goals arise out of necessities rather than desires. Thus, they excel at resolving conflicts between individuals or departments, easing all sides while ensuring that an organization’s day-to-day business carries out. Leaders, on the other hand, adopt personal, active attitudes to their objectives. They always look for opportunities and rewards in every corner, which inspire subordinates and ignite the creative process with their energy. Indeed, their relationships with employees and coworkers are intense, thus their working environment is often chaotic.

In this article, published in 1977, the author argues that businesses need both managers and leaders to survive and succeed. However, in the larger U.S. organizations of that time, a “managerial mystique” seemed to perpetuate the development of managerial personalities—people who rely on and strive to maintain orderly work patterns. The managerial power ethic favors collective leadership and seeks to avoid risk. That same managerial mystique can limit leaders’ development – How can an entrepreneurial spirit develop when it is submerged in a conservative environment and denied personal attention? Mentor relationships are crucial to the development process of leadership personalities. But, generally, in bureaucratic organizations, such relationships, are not encouraged.

Businesses should find a way to harmonize good managers’ and leaders’ traits at the same time. Without a solid organizational framework, even leaders with the most brilliant ideas might spin their wheels, frustrating coworkers and accomplishing little. Without the entrepreneurial culture, when a leader is at the helm of an organization, a business will stagnate and rapidly lose competitive power.