Managing in the Gray

Managing in the Gray

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We overlook this reality because we live in a world that

prizes leaders and views managers as second-class citizens.

Leaders, we hear so often, have visions of how things can

be, they captivate others with their passion and commitment,

and sometimes they change the world. In contrast, managers

keep the trains running on time. The conventional wisdom

says they are plumbers and mechanics. They run meetings,

create agendas, and do budgets. They are “the dull step-

children” of organizations.

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One of today’s reigning clichés

puts the stereotype succinctly: leaders do the right thing, and

managers do things in the right way.

This cliché is badly misleading. It ignores the fact that the

great leaders of history were often eff ...