Distinction and differences between leadership and management in strategic decision-making have been proved by both scholars and practitioners. Leadership is often associated with “visionary” and “doing the right thing” while management is characterized as “task-oriented” and “doing the things right” (Azad et al., 2017, p. 1). In general, leadership can exist without management because of differences in the essence of impact that they make on the individual, community, competition, market, society, and culture.

The role of an individual in strategic decision-making is crucial. The central distinction between a manager and leader is how they percept each member of the team. For instance, managers tend to distribute tasks between employees and later trace their completion guiding the work and helping to overcome obstacles (Azad et al., 2017). However, during the strategic decision-making, the leader realizes that each person has a unique experience, knowledge, and talent that should be accepted, supported, and guided. From this perspective, each individual recognizes that he/she makes a personal contribution to a company’s development and pursues self-improvement that is values encouraged by the leader (Ballantyne, 2012). Altogether, a manager pays more attention to tasks, while a leader focuses on people.

At the same time, each person comprises a bigger community in an organization which directly influences decision-making process. On the one hand, management implies that the manager acts decisively while his authority in the community stems from his position and responsibilities within the organization. On the other hand, leadership is based on such values as delegated responsibility and personal relationships (Azad et al., 2017). The leader does not put himself above the community he operates in. Meanwhile, he understands the importance of effective communication with all members of the organization and directs his efforts towards achieving proper interaction and information sharing (Ballantyne, 2012). From this perspective, the life of the community is impacted by providing them access to the strategic decision-making and recognizing their input to this process. Therefore, community is another vital element in management and leadership.

Meanwhile, the core objective of each company that operates in the market is to remain competitive. Management can be characterized with the development of the specific long-term strategies and objectives that are based on the available resources and personnel. However, leadership is more about the broader perspective while thinking strategically for the future that involves risk-taking and innovations (Azad et al., 2017). The main peculiarity and advantage of leadership over management in terms of competition and markets is the fact that the future is always unknown. This is especially true in the modern age of technological innovations. Consequently, the main role of the leader is not to focus on available resources, but follow personal intuition and expertise thinking ahead of the time (Ballantyne, 2012). As a result, this can ensure that the company where the leader makes a strategic decision basing his predictions and vision of the future remains competitive on the market.

In fact, markets themselves can be changed under the influence of effective strategic decision-making that is put into practice by the leader. For example, Steve Jobs has proved how a visionary leader can restructure not only the single niche, but also the whole market. The distinctive feature of his leadership is that he did not start his journey by exploring the situation on the market, but decided to shape the market himself. In particular, Jobs provided the unique vision of the product that is simple, striving for perfection, and prioritized product before profit (Issacson, 2012). As a result, today products that are designed and produced by the Apple Company are leaders on technological market and set the style for the whole industry. In addition, Jobs who is compared with Henry Ford and Thomas Edison became an idol for the generation of present-day entrepreneurs (Issacson, 2012).

The other important aspect of leadership is its impact on the society. Modern leadership shifts itself from the paradigm of strategic decision-making as the process which incorporates such characteristics as working and having that are more typical for management. On the contrary, leader focuses on “being” that within the society that is represented with servant and sustainable leadership. For instance, during the strategic decision-making, leader, contrary to the manager, does not focus on fulfilling early adopted plans with specific targets. Interests of the community and natural environment are placed ahead of personal well-being serving and contributing to the greater good of the whole society (Pearse & Dimovski, 2015). Thus, during the strategic decision-making, leader prioritizes needs of the society.

Significant difference between leadership and management lies in the sphere of culture. In particular, the main factor that distinguishes these two concepts lies in value which comprises culture. On the one hand, manager can count or even reduce value to the product or thing. For instance, the supervisor, who performs the role of the manager during the diamond cutting, can affect value by distracting a worker from his work asking how many stones he has cut every 15 minutes (Nayar, 2013). On the other hand, the leader creates and introduces new values. This person empowers others and leads by example that is based on action (Nayar, 2013). As a result, leadership has a stronger impact on people’s culture because it can lead to its modification and improvement. Therefore, the substantial difference between management and leadership is their impact on values which establish culture.

In conclusion, differences between leadership and management in their impact on various spheres of live prove that they can exist without each other. Despite the fact that they are both related to the company and organization of its work, each approach prioritizes different things during the strategic decision-making. The article was written with annotated bibliography writing service assistance.