Titles have a way of morphing over time. In some cases, they improve and become more popular. At times, because of the acts of certain, often high-profile, individuals, titles can lose value.
When you think about the title ‘product manager’ how does it make you feel? Does it still hold the value it had when you first started learning about it? What about when you took your first job as a product manager—do you feel the same today as you did in those first days and weeks?
Guest post by John Blakey
Stewards inspire trust by re-defining the purpose of business to deliver in a new way—triple bottom-line goals—and then putting themselves and the organization in service of those goals.
The triple bottom-line creates a vacancy for a different type of executive leader. Tomorrow’s executive leader will not be yesterday’s manager, driven by one dominant owner, to produce one measure of success. In contrast, tomorrow’s executive leader will balance the diverse and dynamic expectations of stakeholders. She or he will be a steward.
Almost every organization has managers; people who are responsible for maintaining the structure of the organization and who focus on the bottom line. They are typically responsible for the day-to-day efforts and errands, and keep things moving along. Having great managers is critical to the success of any organization.
Most organizations also have leaders. They are often the founders of the company or are in positions of high visibility. They are the innovators and the people who are up on stage at conferences talking about new ideas and new ways of doing things. They have a long-range perspective.
Can the manager and the leader be the same person? I found a post by George Ambler that discusses the topic of leaders vs. managers…are they different? George has compiled a compelling list of ideas and information that helps to clarify leadership and management.
Lead on Purpose 