Leadership: Are You A Visionary Or An Empowerer?

Every now and then I read a leadership quote that really strikes me.

This morning I read this one from Professor Henry Mintzberg, author of The Rise and Fall of Strategic Planning, Managers Not MBAs, and a dozen others on management and organization:

“A leader has to be one of two things: he either has to be a brilliant visionary himself, a truly creative strategist, in which case he can do what he likes and get away with it; or else he has to be a  true empowerer who can bring out the best in others.”

A few names come to mind:

  • Ronald Reagan – visionary
  • Steve Jobs – visionary
  • Bill Gates – visionary
  • Steve Ballmer – empowerer
  • Tony Robbins – empowerer

Is it that black and white?  Can you be a visionary AND an empowerer?  How will you lead your teams today?

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3 Responses to “Leadership: Are You A Visionary Or An Empowerer?”

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