Leadership and Management
Since 1913, the Cummins Engine Company has been considered a pioneer throughout the world in regards to diesel combustion engines. Clessie Cummins improved the technology designed a few years earlier by Hvid Diesel. Clessie saw the need to develop this technology at a time when fuel costs were considered extremely high at the time for the primary source of transportation for goods across the country, the tractor trailer. Oddly enough, the company operated for the first 18 years without ever seeing a profit. With the appointment of the second president of the company, J.L. Irwin, things began to change. Irwin spent his first six months at the helm observing the operations in the company and asking the company leaders many questions to try and learn where the failures were.
Long story short, Irwin began developing management controls to engage the leadership of the company to take control and remain accountable. Irwin spent the next 50 years leading the Cummins Engine Company through many business cycles and through many upgrades in technology. Along with the technological upgrades came the need for constant training and continuous upgrades to the management controls. Irwin had the uncanny ability to listen, observe and choose a course of action that would position the Cummins Engine Company and its employees for success.
When one considers the differences between management and leadership, one begins to recognize that in order to be effective as a manager; one must also possess the leadership skills in order to convince people to follow without the need to verbally convince them. Management is the skill of controlling activities in order to control an outcome. Leadership is the ability to set an example or provide a reason for others to follow. There are many examples throughout history of great managers that were very ineffective leaders, but in the opinion of the author, it is impossible to be a great leader without also being a...