Leaders tend to be active since they envision and promote their ideas instead of reacting to current situations. They shape ideas instead of responding to them; and have a personal orientation toward goals (Goleman, 1998).
Leaders and managers also have much different conceptions of work itself. Leaders develop new approaches to long-standing problems. Leaders work in high-risk positions because of a strong aversion to mundane work. Conversely, managers view work as an enabling process. Managers tolerate practical, mundane work because of a strong survival instinct that makes them risk-averse. They are good at reaching compromises and mediating conflicts between opposing perspectives, but lack the influence to avoid future conflicts (Goleman, 1998).
Managers and leaders relate with others in very dissimilar ways. Managers prefer collaborating with others and feel anxious in solitary activity. Managers typically maintain a low level of emotional involvement in relationships, while attempting to reconcile differences, seek compromises, and establish a balance of power. They relate to people according to the role they play in a sequence of events or in a decision-making process. Moreover, managers seek to maintain controlled, rational, and equitable structures. However, very often in small groups, it is not the manager who emerges as the leader, but a subordinate member with specific talents. If the subordinate de facto leader's views conflict with the manager's views, he may feel threatened if he sees the group favoring someone else's leadership. Very often the manager will then attempt to restore control, and regain power. As a result they may be perceived as inscrutable, detached, and manipulative (Goleman, 1995).
Leaders on the other hand, maintain a self-awareness that they draw from in their relationships with others. They relate to people in an intuitive, empathetic fashion by focusing on what actions, events, and decisions mean to the participants.
