Leadership versus Management

All I can say from today is "Ugh!"

I hired a new manager today. She was one of two in an internal applicant pool I interviewed for the position. I created the job for one of them, so they had a 50/50chance each. The candidates were on polar ends of the scale; one was a seasoned manager, accustomed to running a department in black and white decisions. One was an inexperienced manager who had passion and enthusiasm eeking out her pores. She radiated leadership. In my head, it wasn't a contest. I made my decision; my notes and objective rating scale agreed with my gut. I ran my decision past the Medical Director of the department who quickly agreed with me.

I hired the inexperienced leader.

You can teach a leader how to manage, but you cannot teach a manager how to lead. Leadership is in your bones, it's in your genes. You cannot fake it and even more so, the people around you REALLY KNOW when you are faking it. This department needs a leader, not a manager. The management part can be learned.

So I gave the applicants the news. Actually, the conversation where I hired the manager was fun. She cried and then got so embarrassed that she cried! Then she immediately agreed to get tougher. All in all, it was a positive experience and I'm going to help her learn the managerial gig. The second candidate was MUCH harder. I had no idea how hard it was to tell an internal candidate that they didn't get the job. They have to work with the others day-in, day-out and there's a huge potential for an "us" versus "they" situation. I hate to say this, but I learned a lot from my former experience when I didn't get the position I applied for.

Interviewing and hiring external candidates is completely different.** You don't know them or their experience, so you can be objective when you converse with them. I don't even tell non-chosen applicants they didn't get the job; I have Human Resources do that dirty work! So this was a first for me...I think I weathered it okay, but time will tell.

**By the way, I have to insert a small anecdote that made me think of my friend Lula (who also hired lately). On one of my external job postings, I received three bizarre email addresses for applicants' contact information! One was "GlitzEgal," one was "Greenacres," and one was "BedSqueeka." C'mon, if you're going to apply for a job, get a generic email address (even if you never check it!).