When it comes to leadership and management (both of paramount importance to the success of your endeavor), people seem to either mix the terms and treat them essentially the same, or consider them to be positional: Leaders are the select few at the top, providing “leadership”, whereas the managers are located somewhere in the middle of your organization providing “management”. This certainly is true for big (and bigger) organizations, but also plays out even in small startups where leadership comes from the founders, the rest of us are here to manage.
Let me briefly clarify these roles: Leadership is about establishing direction, creating a vision for the future, aligning people and motivate and inspire them. Management is setting structures, policies, and actions that enable systems of people and technologies to operate reliably and efficiently — despite size, geographic reach, or other complexities. You can see how both of these things are highly desirable and of utmost importance to your organization.
The best leaders and managers are the ones who have become ambidextrous — able to seamlessly switch between both modalities as is necessitated by the situation. The best organizations are the ones which embrace leadership and management across all levels.
Embrace the AND of leadership and management — personally and in your organization.