“The leader leads, and the boss drives.”
– Theodore Roosevelt

The holidays are a great time for managers and business owners to ponder this question. Are you more like Rudolph or the Grinch?

Consider Rudolph. He’s the guy at the front of the sleigh. He’s lighting the way so the rest of the team can willingly follow him on a journey towards a clear destination. He’s pulling his weight and sharing the burden for the on-time delivery of a very important cargo and a VIP passenger. He’s inspirational. Rudolph is a leader.

Now let’s take a look at the Grinch. If we ignore the fact that “his heart was two sizes too small” and focus on his behavior, we notice a very different management style. He sits on the top of the sleigh and cracks the whip as his little dog Max struggles to propel the sleigh towards Whoville. He decides the direction but doesn’t share his plans in advance.  He cajoles, manipulates and forcibly drives his sleigh towards Whoville at what we can only imagine must be great physical cost to his poor employee. If we  look beyond the possible worker’s compensation issues, wage and hour violations, and general abuse of employee rights (not to mention the cruelty to animals thing), and just focus on the motivation and information-sharing aspects of this relationship, we can see that this is a dysfunctional one. The Grinch is clearly a boss.

As managers, we often resort to what seems to be the easiest approach – we act like bosses. We forcefully drive our team towards what is often an unstated goal. We might use a carrot or a stick, but either way we are driving our team and pushing them forward, not leading.

Here’s to more Rudolphs and fewer Grinches in 2010.