Project Management: Achieving Competitive Advantage, Fifth Edition

Leaders Versus Managers

1. LO 4.2 Distinguish between the role of a manager and the characteristics of a leader.

Most leaders are quick to reject the idea that they were, by themselves, responsible for the successes attained or the important changes undertaken within their organizations. For them, leadership involves an awareness of a partnership, an active collaboration between the leader and the team. In project management, successful team leaders are often those who were best able to create the partnership attitude between themselves and their teams. As Peter Block5 notes, the idea of leadership as a partnership is critical to project management because it highlights the important manner in which all leaders are ultimately dependent on their ...