Robert Safuto

Over the years I've heard a lot about how hard big businesses make it to compete in different industries. Companies like Home Depot, Walmart, McDonald's and Amazon.com are decried for their negative effects on small business and mom-and-pop stores wherever they do business. I've heard people talk about the "destruction" that has occurred in small towns as a result of the arrival of big businesses. Some of those concerns are valid I'm sure. National chains are tough to compete against but it's also true that the arrival of these businesses on the scene shouldn't mean the end of the world for local businesses.

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There is a big difference between leadership and management in the business context and I think it's important to point out what separates these two very important disciplines. When I first exited the military I was a bit idealistic in thinking that leadership was a valued discipline in business. What I found was that more often the focus in both large and small businesses was on management. Over the years since then I have consistently experienced management as a more valued and more applied discipline than leadership. I think that leadership skills are not valued as much as management skills because of confusion about the definitions of management and leadership.

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