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Leaders and Managers: Interview with Mike Everett, V.P. of IT, Frischs Corporation

James Ball LDR395

Leaders and managers can be different types of people with diverse gifts. Leaders are those who cast light and allow those team members to pursue it, while managers are likely more business-oriented doers. It is the rare people who can be both managers AND leaders; for the most part the skills needed and work involved are regarded as different for either one. An exemplary manager is not essentially a leader, and an excellent leader is not automatically a manager. These are just some of the things I took away from meeting with the leader of Information Systems at Frischs Corporation, Mike Everett. However, the difference between leaders and managers is difference in opinion. Mike is a leader who in my opinion does it all. He has no qualms about doing any of the work that any of us do on a daily basis, and most days you fond him knee deep in writing reports in Crystal of doing performance metrics on SQL code. In my opinion, Mike is a great leader, and manager.

He also turned me on to several books or articles he has used to guide him in his leadership endeavors. Managers are those who do things right and leaders are those who do the right thing, (Bennis and Nanus 1985), but Mintzbergs classic categorization of managerial roles included a leadership role. (Tracey & Hinkin, 1998, p. 220). All of these are older then the books we are currently using in our coursework, but they hold a constant, there is following of the leader as the leader becomes the role model for the team and how it interacts with its leader and those that the team supports. Mike is that person, and I am comfortable working for him, as I know he does the right things to make our team better and what is right for the company.

3 Mike also passed on this, which I though was pretty meaningful in this interview. Being a leader and VP of Information Technology I have the responsibilities to organize and develop a culture of altruism. A failure of a team member is the failure for me as well. I had to do my work selflessly and biggest challenge for me is to get my team members also work selflessly for Frischs. Each of our team members feels as they are the owner, and we do our work for overall company success, we should not just for earning a paycheck. That is the change, which I am trying to bring about. The hardest job for me is to set myself as an example for my all team members.

Clearly, the debate about management vs. leadership is one largely from a point of view. However, it is also true that even among those who assert an similarity between management and leadership; there are still unique characteristics between the two. A manager, by definition, has people reporting directly to them; they also maintains a greater focus on the work and how it is done than the leader does (Leadership vs. Management). The manager is over a group of people and liable for their work, so his focus must be on them and on the tasks that need to be completed. By contrast, a leader has followers, and his focus is not so much on the work is it is on the grand plan, the overall vision that will accomplish great things for the company more profits, higher quality, better service to the customer, or whatever the companys direction and purpose suggest (Leadership vs. Management). Mike believes this is true, there are managers and leaders. He builds trust and a sense of team and family in his department of about 13 people. He has fostered a true sense of the term team, and I believe that we a re at least a Stage 4 team. We perform at a high level day in and day out.

4 The team comes together to resolve conflict at the moment it happens. We all cover each other when the need arises, and have each others back, so to speak.

The differences between managers and leaders are similar to those between a builder and an architect. The architect, who is comparable to the leader, is the one who first envisions the new building. He determines its style, its purpose, and its design features. The builder takes the designs of the architect and makes it come to pass. The architect is a creative, while the builder is detail-oriented, and these traits are perfect for their individual tasks. This was another revelation that I gained in my time from Mike. I like this analogy and I grasped it in a way that I hadnt thought of. It played well with my membership in the Masonic Fraternity, and the teachings that are centered on the building of King Solomons temple from the Bible. In my mind managers were always leaders, and vise versa; but this is not the case at all.

Can a leader and a manager be one and the same? Sure, but it is extremely rare for one person to be good at both.. There are managers who share a great vision, and the traits that are needed to be a true leader. There are leaders who can see the overall big-picture and can also delve into the day to day operation in their field of choice. This is where I see Mike. He has the overall vision of the department in his mind, and has shared that vision. We all see the value of that vision, and strive daily to be one step closer to that vision, but Mike is in the trenches with us every day. This kind of structure is rare, and I think it is a product of our departments size, but it works for us. Mike is very creative in his problem solving, and how it connects with the grand design he has for the department, He does like to employ the devils advocate in his problem solving, which can be overwhelming at times when you have to think like our customers, and

5 that is hard to do when we are so far removed from the day to day operations and struggles of the restaurants.. A company that has that rare individual who can do both may be fortunate enough to have a leader-manager; that can provide a more seamless cooperation between the two spheres. Mike is that sphere of influence; he leads the department by being an honest and thoughtful leader. He cares about the company and always acts ethically. He is aware of the daily operations we perform, and does some of the work himself; he embodies a true Leader AND Manager.

Do I think I have what it takes to be in Mikes position someday? If I listen to my gut and do what is right, and work honestly and ethically, Im not sure. I tend to be one that does what he is told, and avoids any conflict. I have trouble with change and confrontation, and in this industry, those happen everyday. I would like to think that finally getting my degree, and the Leadership courses that I am now taking are changing that, I hope to become a great leader, someday; but that day has not comeyet!

6 References

Bennis, W., Nanus, B. (1985) Leaders: The Strategies for Taking Charge. NewYork, NY: HarperCollins Bruce, T.J., Hinking, T.R. (1998). Transformational Leadership or Effective Managerial Practices? Group & Organization Management, 23(3), (Sept), 220-236. General OneFile. Gale. Retrieved on July 2nd, 2011 from: http://find.galegroup.com/ips/start.do? prodId=IPS Henry Mintzberg on Leadership vs Management (Ambler, G) thepracticeofleadership.net Retrieved on July 8th, 2011 from: http://www.thepracticeofleadership.net/henrymintzberg-on-leadership-vs-management Leadership vs. Management. (n.d.). ChangingMinds.org. Retrieved on July 2nd, 2011 from: http://changingminds.org/disciplines/leadership/articles/manager_leader.htm