Leadership = vision + inspiration + driving force.

There is a great difference between managers and leaders. The characteristics of both leaders and managers are:

• Leaders are controlling the environment and managers participating in the environment
• The leader is innovating, the manager is executing.
• The leader is original, the manager is a copy.
• The leader is developing, the manager is keeping things going.
• The leader is focussed on people, the manager is focussed on structures and systems.
• The leader is trusting, the manager is controlling.
• The leader is focussed on a long term vision, the manager is focussed on a short term vision.
• The leader is asking ‘what” and “why”, the manager is asking “how” and “when”.
• The leader is looking forward, the manager is looking at the last line of the quarterly figures.
• The leader is creating, challenging the status quo, the manager is satisfied with the status quo.
• The leader is oneself, the manager is classical, the executor.
• The leader is doing the right things, the manager is doing the things good.
• The leader is learning by education, the manager is learning by training.

Leaders are intelligent, they have the spirit to inspire and they are able to motivate oneself.

• They are responsible for the effectivity of organisations.
• They are the anchors for others in the society.
• They are important because of their integrity.

Willem Visser

Executive coach, Strategic Adviser, International Lecturer, 8th Dan Judo IJF 

With gratitude to all my teachers, specialists, colleagues and especially all the judoka that I was allowed to guide and to coach. 

Sources and inspiring professionals: 

Van der Horst, Cobben, Abe, Saitoh, Yamashita, Uemura, Sugawara, Murata, Hosokawa, Komata, Takahashi, Nakamura, Kasuga, Kawashima, Kariya, Brousse, Besson, Rougé, Ruska, Geesink, de Cree, Barta, Vachun, Viser, Lascau, McConnell, Snijders, Sins, Hoogendijk, Boersma, Odinot, van Dijk, Klok, Agúndez, Landsberg, Covey, de Waal, DeCaluwe, Drucker, Franzen, Goldratt, Hammer, Kets de Vries, Kotler, Mastenbroek, Mintzberg, Peters, Porter, Quinn, ten Bos, Trompenaars, Vinke, Weggeman, Wissema and many others.