Leadership vs Management

Recently, I wrote a post describing the 3 classifications roles when putting together a team to run a business.

The classic E-Myth roles are: Entrepreneur, Technician, or Manager.

Today I want to draw a distinction between the Manager and Leader.

In my previous post, I pointed out that putting a technician in a management position might be a bit like trying to put a round peg in a square hole.

To be clear, you 100% still want technicians in leadership positions, especially in a tech company.

Managers ensure that the systems are running on time and outputting widgets(or whatever you are selling) at maximum efficiency.

But who designs the systems?

Oftentimes it's the entrepreneur, but what if the entrepreneur is NOT a Technician and the product requires technical knowledge?

Here is a great example I encountered in the real world:

A large company I consulted with had many software developers that all had their own styles of coding. There was no standard to follow. This is not uncommon.

Eventually I stumbled upon one engineer that was a wizard with one particular framework. His work was well documented, functional, DRY, scalable, and maintainable.

This engineer was your classic introvert.

All they wanted to do was to perfect their craft. Having a bunch of direct reports to distract him from shipping features at maximum velocity was a nightmare.

My suggestion was to promote him but NOT to management.

Instead, I wanted him to design the standards and training curriculum for every other dev at the company.

These are standards and practices that no non-technical Manager or Entrepreneur could possibly design on their own but are 100% vital to building a scalable, maintainable business.

If you are building a team or just a technician trying to have upward mobility in your career, keep this in mind.