I became a programmer. After a number of years I easily started to differentiate between those for whom I wanted to work and those I didn’t. I quickly realized that the people who managed me were ones to avoid and those that led me were to be followed. I started to see the difference between management and leadership.
The differences were stark. The managers told me what to do, when to do it and how to do it. Some people call this micro-management. The difference between micro-management and macro-management is the size of the magnifying lens. Micro-management, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder.
The leaders, on the other hand, painted a broad picture of the goals, removed obstacles and trusted me to use my innate skills to achieve those goals. There was coaching along the way including advice, counsel and strong mentoring. The leaders never had me work the weekend to “get the TPS reports out.”
