Leadership is a Daily Practice: The Difference Between Managing and Leading

Aug 19

BY APRIL WILLERS

Leading Forward: A monthly perspective on leadership, innovation, and the evolving intersection of insurance, law, technology, and data.

Recently I had the privilege of attending Disney Institute’s Leadership Excellence program. I expected to leave with a few new leadership tools.

Instead, I left reaffirmed in many of the values I’ve spent the last 20+ years intentionally working to develop, while also finding a few new ideas I’m excited to bring back to our leadership teams at Hermes Law and ClaimDeck.

One of Disney’s core leadership beliefs resonated deeply with me:

“Leaders establish, operationalize, and sustain the values and vision by which their organizations thrive.”

That isn’t just a leadership concept. It’s a daily commitment.

The program also reinforced something I’ve believed for years: there is a meaningful difference between managing and leading.

April Willers attending Disney Institute’s Leadership Excellence program in July 2026

Managing drives processes.

Leading inspires people.

Great leaders create an environment where others can do their very best work, where creativity is encouraged because creativity fuels differentiation, and where every person understands how they contribute to a shared vision.

That idea is also at the heart of servant leadership, a philosophy that has shaped how I’ve tried to lead throughout my career. Leadership isn’t about having all the answers or being the loudest voice in the room. It’s about listening, creating opportunities for others to lead, removing obstacles where you can, and helping people become more than they thought they could be.

Leadership requires us to be proactive, purposeful, aligned, inclusive, and intentional in both our actions and our communication.

Those aren’t traits we master once.
They’re disciplines we practice every day.

I’m still learning, refining, and growing.

Each year, I revisit my own personal leadership values. They’ve remained remarkably consistent:

Balance. Passion. Courage. Accountability. Fun. (Or so I’ve been told.)

These values have become my compass.

I’ve always worked hard. I’ve always played hard. And I’ve always believed in “loving hard”: being an advocate for our people, caring deeply, setting high expectations, and helping others become more than they thought they could be.

Over the last several years, I’ve worked just as intentionally on bringing greater balance to my leadership: balancing intensity with empathy, urgency with patience, and accountability with encouragement.

Because leadership isn’t something we finish learning.

It’s something we choose to practice every day.