I’ve encountered many managers who are in love with the IDEA of supporting their team, but not the REALITY.
Typical examples:
- “My team are great. I push them hard and they deliver great stuff on time” (in reality: the team resents the bullying, self-aggrandizing jerk)
- “I’d do anything for my team. When they’re working til midnight for me, I stay late too – I even buy them pizzas!” (subtext: they’re worth $6.99 for 4 hours of overtime, and no sleep. Also: they should be grateful I even stayed around, playing minesweeper while they worked)
- “I like to think of myself as a sh*t-umbrella: I take the sh*t for my team from my boss” (easy to say when “sh*t” is nothing more than a few vague fears about quality; but what about when the REAL sh*t arrives; is that swishing sound you hear the sound of your manager covering their own ass? Or just of them throwing you into the path of danger, a human-shield to protect them?)
So, here’s a refreshing (if somewhat old) counter-example: