Many managers became managers suddenly and unintentionally. And while it’s gratifying to be selected as the one best suited to take over the reins of leadership when there’s a void, it can also be intimidating, especially when one doesn’t feel prepared.

How many managers took “the management class” before they were handed the keys? Relatively few, so it’s natural for newly appointed managers to emulate their managers… who mimicked their managers…and so on.

The problem with managing as it’s always been done is that its roots stem from the Industrial Age, which defined management as: get people to do what you want them to do. That was it. This idea persisted for centuries.

In the “old days,” the typical worker didn’t have many choices, and mobility and communications were restricted, so managers could get away with Industrial Age management techniques—directing, threatening, correcting and controlling.

However, times have changed and so has the world. Today, there are more choices: where to work, what to do, how to do it… the possibilities are endless. Add to that an entirely new and different generation of workers.

Today, old management attitudes like “my way or the highway” just don’t fly. People have more choices, they’re more connected, better informed and they expect to be respected, want to participate and to matter.

As a result, the focus has shifted from management to leadership, the definition of which is related to—yet vastly different from—the definition of management.

While management was getting others to do what you want them to do, leadership is different. As Dwight D. Eisenhower said, “Leadership is the art of getting people to do what you want them to do, because they want to do it.”

This is one of the most valuable lessons a new manager can learn: When people want to do the work, they will be fully engaged in it. It’s a matter of free will (another important “w”).

Here’s the second most valuable lesson: When your employees have a vision and understanding of why they’re doing the work—how it helps, how it makes a difference, how it affects the customer, the team and the organization—then they will truly want to do it.

Yes, without these you might get temporary compliance—but only when you’re present and watching your team. The minute a manager thinks, “No one needs to know the plan, the details, or the results but me,” he’s already lost.

To truly win the hearts and hands of any organization’s most flexible and valuable resource—the people who work there—the effective leader begins with the why (the vision). This inspires the want (the heart), thereby engaging the will of the team. There is no other sustainable way.