> As a manager you are seen as the default main character of your team.
In my entire career I have never known anyone who viewed managers this way.
The best managers I've known have been viewed as great supporters of the team, people that advocate for you, get you the resources you need, and help run interference with leadership.
The vast majority, from the "meh" to the horrid have been viewed by the team mostly as obstacles in hero's journey to solving problems and shipping products.
And that's only from the IC perspective. From the leadership team perspective the view of manager ranges from seeing them as useful goons that keep lazy workers in line to, in the best cases, people who might be able to rise through the ranks to approach, but never quite reach, their level.
But I've never, ever encounter people who think of a manager a the "main character".
In my entire career I have never known anyone who viewed managers this way.
The best managers I've known have been viewed as great supporters of the team, people that advocate for you, get you the resources you need, and help run interference with leadership.
The vast majority, from the "meh" to the horrid have been viewed by the team mostly as obstacles in hero's journey to solving problems and shipping products.
And that's only from the IC perspective. From the leadership team perspective the view of manager ranges from seeing them as useful goons that keep lazy workers in line to, in the best cases, people who might be able to rise through the ranks to approach, but never quite reach, their level.
But I've never, ever encounter people who think of a manager a the "main character".