What made your best manager your best? And your worst manager your worst? Horror stories and happy-ever-afters are both welcome.

Best: she encouraged me to take a leadership role when I was doubting myself, let me really dig into strategy work and own a huge initiative which made me really excited about work again, understands WLB and that “loved one” doesn’t just mean spouse or kids, goes out of her way to give the team unofficial perks like extra days off or funds dinners out of her own pocket, empathetic and relatable. There’s no seniority barrier in the way she treats anyone no matter the level

Worst: when I was entry level making $35K in a HCOL city and asked for a raise for the work I was doing, he told me he’d teach me budgeting skills so I didn’t have money problems, also didn’t take sexual harassment claims seriously

Also the worst: he didn’t do much when I worked 70 hour weeks and asked for help getting things off my plate or prioritizing besides saying long hours are industry standard, tried to contact me about a project when I was in the hospital because my anxiety and depression made me have constant panic attacks and suicidal ideation.

Best manager appreciates my ideas and supports my development and growth. She shows she trusts me. She gives me exciting projects. I leave 1:1’s feeling pumped and energized.
Worst manager made me give her notes of what I did all week for our 1:1’s. I messed up a project, was put on a 2nd probation and she wouldn’t tell me what I did wrong because she was too busy.

Best managers: sense of humor, recognizes talent and hard work, champions meritocracy

Worst managers: poor communicators, lack EQ, held product roles without a product background

Best manager identifies your potential and let you groom into a leader with right guidance. Best manager has not allowed values & ethics like none other. Makes the work place and inviting. Leads with example and is kind. Share the experience & lessons with the team. Is a problem solver and provides direction when needed. Connected to the team.

Worst manager don’t know what their teams are doing. Likes to take credit, will only approach you for information when there is a stakeholder meeting. 1*1 are only a formality. Unable to give you feedback for you to grow or lead your team. People are just numbers. Don’t take any role is understanding the difficulties faced by the team.

My previous manager was not a bad person but definitely lacked in handling situations and was a partial to old timers in the company. Hired a non technical manager to lead a technical team because it suited the agenda. Without realising that this person is going to be utter useless and then didn’t even bother to explain or talk through the decision. I didn’t even realise I was depressed due to over work and finally decided to leave the job. I hear from my old team from time to time that it’s only got worse since I left.

The best manager i had was one who was always in the best mood and always checked in to see if I needed help and had weekly meetings with me. The worst manager I had was one who kept asking me to take more and more work and would thank me (i was working 5-10 cases over what i should have been and she knew that) but when I would leave notes unfinished for the night she would write me up for not getting my work done and others were leaving their notes open. A co-worker with that I became close friends too which that manager was close to told me that the manager hated my relationship with that coworker and was jealous. so that is why the write-ups were coming.

We had an awful manager that pretty much yelled at people, tried to pass of work as hers, tried to get people to put decks together on Monday holidays and then blame it all on ESL. She’s still a people manager 🤦🏻‍♀️

The best manager challenged me, gave me exciting projects that aligned with my goals, gave credit to his team, and communicated well

The worst manager took credit for my work, refused to loop me in projects until the solution was worked out, and consistently cancelled our 1:1s