Continuing on last week’s subject about leadership, I will expand on internal battles between the leader and the technician. Also, I will discuss some of the misunderstandings between managing and leading.

Expanding on last week’s example about the auto mechanic shop owner; when the shop owner realizes that the business is stuck, both the leader and the technician inside of you are in a real duel. The technician wants to do what the technician knows best, which in this example is to repair cars; while the leader wants to see the vision come true. It is almost like having dual personalities, although in this example, one flourishes while the other perishes. The future of your business relies on making the right choice. I will go one step further by saying that, many, many people I know of, settle for what they think is a “healthy” mix of the two. Personally, I don’t think there’s such thing. From past personal experience, when I settled for the so-called “healthy” mix, you end up with a technician and a manager, not a leader.

In all outward appearance, you look, feel and breath like a leader, but in reality, from your business results, you know very well that all you are doing is managing a business while you perform the technician’s work. Most likely, after hours, you manage all the aspects of the business such as the books (accounting), bills, correspondence etc. The leader now is being suppressed by two (2) entities inside you, the technician and the manager. This is how the leader gets suppressed, and eventually killed, if not kept in check.

Now, there is something that the leader and technician do agree on. The technician knows how to perform the physical labor required, for the business to generate cash; which is to remain, literally, in the pits. Meanwhile, the leader knows that the technician needs to stop to allow the leader to take the reigns of the business, so that it moves to the next level. But, the leader also understands that the technician’s personality is very strong and has the “experience” to stay in business.  Hence the leader’s thought is that in order to stay in business, perhaps is better to retreat into the background, allowed to be pushed away, repressed by the technician, so that the business continues.

Understandably so, I can see the logic behind it. Yet, this is a very common mistake, because if the leader is allowed to flourish, the leader in you, will come up with a way to generate cash, to grow the business while the technician is remains out of the pits. The leader is so passionate about the business, that the leader will find a way to make it all work, but since the technician is allowed to flourish, the leader has no option but to be pushed away, to be repressed, while the technician runs the business. At this point, it is not so much a business as it is more of a job. The leader in you believes so much in this business, that in hopes to be called upon to serve at some point in the near future, the leader will allow the technician to repress the leader for a while. This is how much the leader in you believes in your business. This is how invested the leader in you is in your business idea. The challenge for you is, how long are you going to repress the leader in you? How long can you wait before the technician and the manager are so prominent and so complacent that the leader has perished, even forgotten.

You are probably wondering, but how do I transition from being the technician to a full time leader. Next week, I will attempt to provide you with some tips that I have picked up along the way and some that I have figured out from my personal experience.