People tend to use the terms manager and leader interchangeably. However, that usage is not correct. Management and leadership are related but different concepts. Leadership is one of the five management functions (planning, organizing, staffing, leading, and controlling), and leadership is critical to management success. Someone can be a manager without being a true leader.

There are managers—you may know of some—who are not leaders because they do not have the ability to influence others. There are also good leaders who are not managers. The informal leader, an employee group member who takes charge, voices issues, and initiates change, is a case in point. You may have worked in a situation where one of your peers had more influence in the department than the manager.

Our definition of leadership does not suggest that influencing employees is the task of the manager alone; employees do influence other employees. Anyone can be a leader within any group or department, and everyone in a team is expected to be a leader. Thus, regardless of your position, you are expected to share leadership.