In professional discourse, an important distinction is often made between “leadership” and “management.” In practice, however, the business world tends to collapse the two. Defining and understanding these distinct skill sets is critical — especially considering that leadership is actually an “opposite yet complementary function to management,” according to Unstoppable co-founder Vikram Maraj.
For anyone to effectively guide an organization toward a successful future, honing strong leadership and management skills is essential — understanding how and when to use each is like conducting a symphony. And when we find the harmony by hitting the right notes at the right time? “It can be magic,” says Unstoppable co-founder Kevin Gangel.
In this interview — the second in our three-part Leadership vs Management series — Vikram and Kevin discuss how to distinguish leadership from management, and what specific skills and qualities are necessary for effective leadership.
The past few decades have seen rising corporate and academic emphasis on leadership development. What difference is it making?
Kevin Gangel (KG): It’s not making the difference we want it to make. We remain in a leadership crisis. 200,000 MBAs graduate annually. 80,000 leadership books are for sale on Amazon (and that’s not counting AI)! More and more is spent on leadership training every year, yet we have more burnout and mental health issues than ever before.
Vikram Maraj (VM): Way back in 2014, The World Economic Forum’s Global Leadership Index said 86% of experts believed the world was in the midst of a leadership crisis. The leadership program development market is expected to hit $81.9B by the end of 2024. That’s right: billion. Yet in ten years, the leadership confidence index has not increased. The reality is that the emphasis on leadership development is making almost no noticeable difference in the quality of leadership, either at the global or everyday corporate level.
Complex issues need to start with simple, basic capabilities — human level inquiry, exploration, and collaboration — so we can build together toward the complex solution eventually required.
— Kevin Gangel, Unstoppable Co-founder
KG: The world is changing faster than leadership models can keep up because most leadership models are based on either formulas or specific skills. Formulas rely on the problems staying the same — and the problems are evolving exponentially. Training specific skills assumes you know what you’ll be facing so that you can bring that skill to bear.
Leadership today MUST be about fundamental capacities to deal with change, conflict, and uncertainty independent of sector, organizational design, or market conditions. Leadership today MUST start to deal with the condition of humanity — the ability to cut to the very heart of the matter, to think the unthinkable, to speak the unspeakable, to listen to the uncomfortable. Complex issues need to start with simple, basic capabilities — human level inquiry, exploration, and collaboration — so we can build together toward the complex solution eventually required.
How does distinguishing between management and leadership enable leaders to be better?
VM: In our experience, when people use the word “leader” they are typically referring to a person in a position of power who arrived there by influence or popularity or force. Calling someone a “leader” is not necessarily a reflection of that person’s ability to lead. This may be a radical notion, but Unstoppable’s point of view is there are no “leaders.” There are people who are exercising leadership or management — or neither — to try and accomplish something. The word “leader” is ingrained in the workplace as a way to signify a title or a position, when leadership should be a way of being and acting that is available to anyone at any time.
KG: Management and leadership are different arts and different sciences, so when you can distinguish between the two, you can bring the right tools to the job. Management is the art of protecting, extending, and enhancing the hard-won success of the past. That requires rigor, diligence, and subject matter expertise, as well as dealing with risk, linear project planning, and careful resource management. Leadership, on the other hand, is the art of creating what does not yet exist. It requires letting go of the past and envisioning a future that initially no one else can see or understand. Leadership demands the ability to dwell in uncertainty.
If you can distinguish between the two, you can cleanly shift back and forth from one to the other as needed, intermingling and mixing them as appropriate.
The most effective leaders have no limits on their ability to be what they authentically need to be in the moment.
— Vikram Maraj, Unstoppable Co-founder
What are the specific skills and qualities one needs to nurture to be a leader?
KG: Integrity, Authenticity, Responsibility, Purpose, and Context. Unstoppable has unique definitions for each of these to articulate what leaders today need to nurture — first in themselves and then in their teams. You need to know yourself as someone who is doing everything possible to uphold and fulfill your deepest commitments and values. That means if you say you value inclusion, you can point to sacrificing something else to achieve it. If you say you care about team cohesion over individual accolades, you can point to where and when you prioritized one over the other.
VM: The most effective leaders have no limits on their ability to be what they authentically need to be in the moment. They are balancing a wide variety of sometimes conflicting values and skills such as compassion, structure, accountability, listening, mentoring, learning.
Most people do not have this kind of limitless access to all aspects of their humanity — I’ve encountered only a handful. Most people have a behavioural pattern that they rarely deviate from and are proud of their limited pattern. They even try to teach others — “If you just adopt my pattern, you’ll get ahead.” So, the specific quality one needs is access to all ways of being and acting and the wherewithal to use what is most called for in any given situation.
KG: You could call this “walking the talk,” which also means doing so when no one else is around. You need to be the one who says: “This is where we’re going, and I don’t care what stands in our way.” Not because you are a tyrant, but because your purpose and commitment are far greater than your fear and worry. Not only can you bring your fear and worry along for the ride, but you can actively share them with others because, in the same breath, you can tell them what it is that’s bigger than your fear. If you don’t have some fear in your belly, you’re not doing leadership right anyway. Not only can you stop pretending it’s not there, but you can also use it to forge strength in your team and your relationships.
Vik Maraj is a co-founder of Unstoppable and serves as Head of Design and Delivery.
Kevin Gangel is a co-founder of Unstoppable and serves as CEO.