THE LEADER-MANAGER

 

A Leader-Manager is someone who can lead and manage himself, others, processes, and change—often all at the same time.

He must have the capacity and ability to perform the essential tasks of both leadership and management with excellence. He sets clear goals and deliverables and helps his team connect to them by making them meaningful. At the same time, he exercises discipline, holds people accountable, is willing to have tough conversations, and when necessary, takes firm action to manage performance.

In fulfilling these roles, the Leader-Manager embraces several core responsibilities:

1. Economic Performance as the Central Mission

A Leader-Manager must first understand how his responsibilities serve the organization’s overall mission. Since a business is an economic organ, every decision, action, and deliberation must be measured against its ability to deliver economic performance. A business justifies its existence only by producing results: supplying goods and services customers want at a price they are willing to pay, while ensuring profit. The Leader-Manager must therefore be clear that his foremost duty is to safeguard and grow the wealth-producing capacity of the resources entrusted to him.

2. Human Capital as the True Resource

Economic performance is only possible if people perform. The true resource of any enterprise is its human capital. A Leader-Manager must be skilled at bringing out the best in people. He does this by enabling achievement—because achievement is both fuel and reward for self-motivation. To unlock this, he must see subordinates as human beings first, not merely as resources. He takes into account their dreams, aspirations, personalities, skills, motivations, and reasons for action or inaction.

3. Building a Culture of Duplication and Best Practices

A Leader-Manager multiplies success. He is quick to transfer knowledge and make best practices part of the organization’s culture. He ensures that top talents share insights across teams—in innovation, marketing, operations, and management. He encourages collaboration, discourages silos, and builds systems where success is celebrated, codified, and replicated. In this way, ordinary people are lifted to do extraordinary things, and the organization keeps moving upward.

4. Balancing Administration and Entrepreneurship

The Leader-Manager is both an efficient administrator and an entrepreneur. He reallocates resources from declining areas to those with greater potential, ensuring both effectiveness and efficiency—doing things right while also doing the right things. As an entrepreneur, he creates and grows tomorrow’s business through systematic analysis, foresight, and hard work today.

5. Managing the Short Term and the Long Term

One of the Leader-Manager’s most critical skills is managing two time dimensions simultaneously. He must balance short-term results with long-term sustainability. He cannot chase immediate profits at the expense of the company’s long-range health, nor can he dream of a distant future while neglecting present demands. His responsibility is to harmonize the two—running today’s business while preparing the changes needed for tomorrow.

6. Stewardship of Social Responsibility and Brand

Finally, the Leader-Manager is custodian of the organization’s wider social responsibilities. He safeguards its reputation, ensures its brand is trusted, and manages its impact on society. In doing so, he positions the company not only as an economic institution but also as a respected member of the community.

Anas Zubedy
Kuala Lumpur

Ref: Inspired by Peter Drucker’s management insights