I came across a column by Henry Mintzberg that caught my eye for several reasons.  When I was in graduate school I remember learning about a seminal study that Mintzberg conducted with managers in the late 60′s and early 70′s.  He had managers keep detailed records of the exact tasks and activities they completed.  The results were published in Mintzberg’s book, The Nature of Managerial Work. I had to double-check.  Was this the same professor appearing in BusinessWeek more than 35 years later? Yep!

The second reason the article grabbed my attention was it’s headline: We’re Overled and Undermanaged.  Mintzberg argues that too many people in charge of organizations today fancy themselves as “leaders” and stay removed from the critical work of managing!

This reminded me of something I wrote about last year – the fact that a surprising number of executives have told me they want their own direct reports to be leaders – not managers.  (See my previous post: Re-imagining Management).

In reality, good leaders employed the tactics of management while also being able to step above the day-to-day details to take a longer term strategic view. As Mintzberg writes, “Instead of distinguishing leaders from managers, we should encourage all managers to be leaders.  And we should define ‘leadership’ as management practiced well.”

To read Mintzberg’s article, click here.  Note: the online article has a different headline than the one published in print on Aug. 17, 2009.