Leaders inspire you to follow; their actions make you aspire to be like them.
Managers tell people what to do. Often they do this though intimidation and fear of losing your job.
There are many, many, many pages that Google has indexed about Inspiring Leaders, but what does that mean on a more personal level? I feel incredibly fortunate to have experienced a great leader in action. In my view a leader differs from a manager, by leading, not by checking boxes about how they should behave.
You can tell you’re in a meeting with managers rather than leaders because they
use words like I. It’s especially obvious in a meeting where they may be a
manager and one worker presenting results to a broader audience.
Leaders use I, but to praise. They use words like we when describing their
work or, more likely, the name of the team member who did the good work.
Managers constantly promote themselves to appear successful.
Leaders are successful through the reflected success of their team - and through the praise their staff give to them.
Managers promote (and protect) other managers. If you find one in the organisation, keep looking up the reporting line to find the root cause.
Leaders spread their success - the person they aspire to is probably not even part of your organisation.
I mentioned how fortunate I was experiencing true leadership. This person encouraged me and others, gave more recognition to us than was honestly due, never claimed our successes as their own and, perhaps most importantly, challenged us to grow and achieve more than we thought we could. Whilst I’ve not worked with them for a number of years I still think and talk about their impact and I try to replicate for those with whom I have the pleasure of working.