Header Image
Breadcrumbs
Site Tag
Content Wrapper
Page Title
Perspectives
Perspectives
May 23, 2001
"Managers look in; leaders look out. An outward focus entails paying attention to the changing environment. Good leaders constantly monitor trends in technology, government regulation, and social values. They keep an eye on competitors, and, more important, they pay attention to the changing needs of customers. Great leaders try to anticipate change; they encourage followers not to use the best practices of others as a benchmark, but instead, to get out ahead and innovate so that others will use their practices as a benchmark.
Managers are concerned with today; leaders are concerned with tomorrow. A concern with tomorrow entails looking beyond this quarter and this year to where the company should be in the future. Good leaders think three to five years out. Great leaders paint a picture of what the organization should look like when the current management team retires - focusing everyone's efforts on creating a lasting, sustainable legacy (O'Toole, 1999, p. 214)."
Reference: O'Toole, J. (1999). Leadership a to z: A guide for the appropriately ambitious. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.
Are you concerned with today or tomorrow?
* Leadership A to Z is available on loan at the OSU Leadership Center. A listing of all the Leadership Center's resources is available on our website http://leadershipcenter.osu.edu/
Created: 2009-01-02, Updated: 2009-01-15
