its not either/or

Many times, the distinction between effectiveness and efficiency crops up.

“Which should we aim for?” ask executive teams.

But this is not an either/or decision.

Good businesses need both.

They need to be doing the right things (effectiveness) and they need to be doing those things right (efficiency).

One description of an effective business is that everyone is on the same bus, facing the same way and heading in the same direction.  Achieving this is a major function of leadership.   An important refinement is that great (not merely good) leaders as well as getting the right people on the bus, also get the wrong people off the bus (a much more difficult task - and the province of management, rather than leadership.  The management team also oversees the pursuit of efficiency.

So, your business needs you to be both a good leader and a good manager (or to employ good managers) - one out of two is not enough.