Producers and Leaders

My manager at work brought up a good point to me awhile back.  She is finishing up her MBA at the University of Kentucky, and because I got my MBA sometime back she has taken the time to sit and talk with me about our experiences in business school.  During one such meeting, she said, "I feel that there are two types of people in any job: producers, and leaders of people."

It is an interesting thing to think about.  She was essentially saying that people look to fill one of two roles in a company: someone who produces revenue (by making a product, retaining a customer, calling to collect payment, etc.), or someone who leads others to do those things.

For the most part, you don't see upper management stopping what they are doing to jump on the front line to work alongside the customers.  The average manager makes around one "judgment call" decision every 60 seconds--meaning there just aren't enough hours in the day to spend time working on the front lines.  

But someone has to work on the line.  Someone has to produce, and has to create that value for the company.  The company can not exist without its front line.  And it can not be inspired to improve without its management team.  These two--leaders and producers--form a symbiotic relationship where neither can survive without the other.

Producers, remember: while you may be the ones who create the revenue that the company makes every day, you would not be able to do so without the leadership, the executives, the founders who built the company and brought it together.  Leaders, remember: while you may be the glue that holds it all together, without the producers you're just glue.  Leaders and producers need each other, and the best companies are those who understand that all employees, from the janitors to the chief executives, make the company what it is.