“Management is doing things right. Leadership is doing the right things.”

Peter F. Drucker, the Austrian-born father of modern ‘management’ education is widely quoted as saying this, but to me (and I’m not alone) it comes off as a shot at the term management. As if management is less effective than leadership. Executives certainly should lead their teams and companies, but it makes little sense to spend three weeks on ‘doing the right’ activity if it could have been done in one. That’s where management trumps leadership.

It is about doing the right things, the right way. Make no mistake, I value Drucker’s contributions to management education, and to my own leadership and management style, and that’s why I suggest a balance in our approach to projects. Projects require both leadership and management to be most effective, and perhaps different team members to champion both!