A leader inspires people, but a “boss” simply tells people what to do. He or she makes a living bossing people around.

Of the two, a leader is far superior.

The very first sentence of the United States Air Force “Leadership Training Manual” is as follows:

“Learning to follow is the beginning of leadership.”

The Military Leader

The military philosophy is that hands-on training makes a better leader than theory and education alone. Our military academies prepare young recruits to become future leaders. They enter the ranks with a commission, but they rise to positions of leadership as they gain experience. I wish the corporate world understood that.

In the private sector, there are lots of managers and bosses, and very few genuine leaders. There are good managers and bad. I have found the latter are far more common than the former. In my view, it is largely because a growing number of managers were raised after the Vietnam era when the United States had a volunteer army. Prior to that, a much greater percentage of the population had military experience.

As a result, more people understood what leadership really was and far more people respected the chain of command. They knew how to work as a team. That is one of the greatest benefits of military experience. It’s because teams accomplish more by using the combined talents of a group– all working toward a common goal. Individuals who perform with their own interest in mind rarely achieve the same results.

Leaders Build Teams

Real leaders know how to build teams. They lead by management and they inspire by example. They also understand strategy and how each team member contributes to the objective, whether it’s winning a new client or producing a solution from start to finish.

Leaders are able to see the sum total of the parts but also recognize which parts work best with one another. Too often, a business leader gets bogged down with details, which she should delegate to a manager. A leader’s role is visionary. It’s important to continue to communicate the shared goal and help a team understand the important role they play in reaching that goal.

True Leaders

Lee Iacocca took Chrysler out of the trash heap and turned it around. He did this by making the hard decisions to lay off many workers and rebuilt the company from the ground up. He kept his eyes on the goal while his dedication and passion inspired the employees. His slogan, “The Pride Is Back,” was a reminder that not only did he want to build better cars, he wanted everyone to know Chrysler was back on top.

Steve Jobs was not an easy boss to work for but an effective leader. He inspired his teams to reach toward higher goals. He was brilliant and attracted those who also were brilliant. Innovation is born from inspiration. From the sleek design of Apple’s products to the promise of “it just works,” Jobs led Apple to create some of the most revolutionary technology products on the market today.

The business world needs more leaders and far fewer bosses. Our economy depends upon it.