Leadership?

"It became clear that people have erroneously come to falsely mistake management for leadership." - James W Breckenridge

During hurricane Katrina the media and the public did a lot of finger pointing at FEMA and President Bush. What was overlooked and misunderstood was the role each had to play during the emergency. FEMA has a management role. It exists to organize, give advice, train, but not to lead.

“Management is doing things right; leadership is doing the right things.” - Peter Drucker, management advisor

President Bush was criticized for not leading. Although we typically think of the president as the leader of our nation, we tend to forget that we are the United STATES of America and that state governors have a lot of local authority. In the case of hurricane Katrina, the first leaders responsible were the local Mayors. Sadly the mayor of New Orleans and his staff fled the city, did not implement the city's emergency plan, and yelled loudly for the Federal government to save everyone. However, mayors do not have the authority to request federal resources. This is the right and responsibility of the state governor and during Katrina the Louisiana governor delayed asking for help for many days. Technically Bush and FEMA were not legally allowed to help until officially asked to by the governor. This is known as state rights and as a former governor of Texas, George Bush understands state rights.

Bottom Line
During emergencies, both leaders and managers are needed. Managers must ensure good logistics by organizing the supplies, people and resources. Leaders are needed to inspire the people, to issue orders, and make major decisions.

"One of the tests of leadership is the ability to recognize a problem before it becomes an emergency." - Arnold Glasgow

Great leaders will hire great managers to take care of the details. Great leaders will also understand the limits of their authority and how to work with and cooperate with other leaders.