I like to tell people that I don't really want to be a manager, but I do want to be a leader. Implicit in this reluctance to merely manage is an aversion to enforcing rules simply because a rule exists. This is especially the case when the rule offers nothing more than an assertion of bureaucratic power. Requiring people to work for a specified period of time in a specific location is just the kind of rule that I would love to undermine if I'm ever put in a position of authority. I just want to people to deliver by whatever means possible. Managers enforce the rules. Leaders free followers from restrictions that limit their potential.
Given this perspective, it should come as no surprise that I have very little regard for managers who feel compelled to demonstrate the authority granted to them by the bureaucracy. Aggressive assertions of bureaucratic control, especially through appeals to the ultimate bureaucratic authority, HR, vividly illustrate the lack of imagination and vision in a senior leader. If a leader's first response to a situation that challenges the established norm is to file a complaint with HR, that leader is simply expressing their reliance on the power granted by their place in the hierarchy. The complaint is nothing more than the recognition that they see their role as executor of existing systems. They might as well hang up a sign that says they believe in command and control management. Their office is the place where new ideas go to die because new ideas threaten the power that enables this managerial style.
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