Is the manager the same with the leader?

Many people tend to consider the manager and the leader as the same thing, due to
the similar characteristics which define them, but the reality puts them on different
stages: not all managers are leaders.
Firstly, the manager can be considered a copy of the leader, responsible for
communicating the rules and philosophies to individual employees insuring that
they respect them. The hierarchical management system narrows the relationships
between the manager and the employees. The main characteristic of a manager is
to predict and plan future activities, so he must have a realistic vision on the
organization environment, but also a high-developed capability of organization and
coordination is required. Also, a manager will not doubt the decisions and
judgement of those ahead of him insuring the proper execution of the activities.
On the other hand, a leader has a high-level of interaction with the employees, with
the similar contacts in other companies, focusing on interpersonal relationships.
Because of his close relation with people, he knows the needs met in the
organization, so he acts as a innovator, trying to implement new strategies, to
modify the accepted rules and regulations on account of the trust inspired by the
employees. This way, he is taking high risks, changing not only his subordinates
methods and values, but his superiors either.
Secondly, a good leader develop himself through the people he leads. He is
continuously the first who takes contact with the problems, who tries to solve them
directly, without involving the top managers of the company, his actions are based
on intuition and inspiration, a good knowledge of the situation and people. An
effective manager who reaches the status of a true leader will be capable of leading
people effectively, will plan the right missions to be accomplished drawing the
main route to be followed including the key individuals of the organization.
We have mentioned in the beginning that not all managers are leaders, because a
manager has many vital things missing when acting as a leader. The studies
showed that a manager is more competent than a leader just in the field of
business, where he makes plans and decisions, organizes the work of others and
gives the company a direction based on predicted studies. Leaders excel in fields
like reflection, learning to undermine their fears and attitudes so that don`t lead
him to make bad decisions, they lead through the own example, understand the

cultural differences between people, try to create a climate based on innovation and
connect themselves with the people they lead.
Finally, leadership and management must go hand in hand. They are not the same
thing, but they are necessarily linked, and complementary. Any effort to separate
the two is likely to cause more problems than it solves. Many people, by the way,
are both. They have management jobs, but they realize that you cannot buy hearts,
especially to follow them down a difficult path, and so act as leaders too.
In conclusion, to be a manager and to be a leader involves different things.
Basically, their objective is a common one, that of increasing the organizations
performance, but the way they reach to that, the means and methods they are
adopting for achieving the objective dictate the contrast between them. We also,
could remark that a leader is much more complex than a manager, he must
dominate fields as reflection, society, cultural diversity, innovation and people,
following the strengths drawn by the manager. The capacity of innovation is
another point underlined in the essay, meaning that while leaders are using
massively the innovation, the managers dont pass the boundaries imposed by the
the higher echelons.
Therefore, the manager is not the same with the leader.