Entrepreneurs need to remember the difference between leadership and management. Both are important, but for startups, leadership is really crucial.

Marc Cenedella: Leadership and management are really totally different things. Leadership is what is hard or what is impossible or what can’t be done and why we’re going to go do it. “Here is my vision. Here is where we’re going. Here is the city on the hill. Here is the mountain that we’re trying to climb.” That's leadership.

Management is: “Okay, hey, let’s get all the cards together. Do we have enough food? Everybody take your bathroom break when we stop in a half hour, okay? Now it’s going to take us 17 hours to get to the top of the mountain. Let’s go.” That is the difference between leadership and management

So in terms of leadership style I've always focused on hey what is the vision my company TheLadders.com?  We’re trying to do something really, really different than the other 45,000 job related companies that have been started. So we’re doing something really different.  We’re doing it for a reason and why is that important to people?  What is it that we’re trying to do?  Why should you be here? So that's my leadership style.

Management style is really more focused around what are—what is it that we actually have to accomplish, great you’re going to go do that, fantastic! You’re going to get back to me by when?Okay, that’s the deadline. What is the thing that you’re going to do for me? So dates and deadlines and details are an important part of management as opposed to leadership.  

And they’re both important, but in entrepreneurial settings leadership is particularly important.

Directed / Produced by
Jonathan Fowler & Elizabeth Rodd