Ask HN: Who was your favorite manager and why? I'd like to hear the story of who was your favorite manager and why. What was the unique thing they did that made you more productive and/or happy? |
Ask HN: Who was your favorite manager and why? I'd like to hear the story of who was your favorite manager and why. What was the unique thing they did that made you more productive and/or happy? |
It also showed me you don't have to be an asshole to get ahead. He had already moved up very fast, and 10 years later is now the head of a 5000 person organization. "What would Navneet do?" is still one of my internal checks when I'm struggling with something. I'm pretty convinced management is an apprenticeship business and I had a great mentor early in my career. I had some lousy management later, not sure how well I would have coped without the earlier exposure. I've developed my own style and incorporated stuff from other people, books, and blogs. I'm probably fairly different in style and personality to him today, but I think that one year laid the foundation of me being at least competent.
I had a healthy fear of her but she was also a friend to me and gave me relationship and career advice at every possible opportunity.
Instead, he would let us know what he/we were trying to accomplish (Can we do X?) and we'd figure out a way to do it. I remember telling him many times: "Learn to live with disappointment Adam." - but then I'd try to make it happen anyway.
Still, the benefits of this were huge. After the first week, I was aware of who everyone was, what their job was, what they studied and what they liked to do. It was a nice icebreaker that cut my onboarding time by a significant amount.