The best thing a manager has ever done

May 29, 2021

What’s the best thing a manager has ever done for you?

— Julie Zhuo (@joulee) May 27, 2021

The best thing a manager has ever done for me? 🤔

Perhaps not just one thing, but the best managers I've had…

1. Gave me the job which effectively started my entire design career, even though my portfolio was so crappy I probably would not have hired myself.
2. Patiently listened to my rants when I was still an immature and entitled brat.¹
3. Openly and genuinely celebrated the growth I had.
4. Taught us that work should be fun too.
5. Let me fail when it was low stakes so that I could learn the lessons that needed learning.
6. Magically knew how to place me on projects I was oddly suited for and loved.
7. Reaffirmed my capabilities and gave me a huge confidence boost by telling me they really needed someone with my skills on the team.
8. Recognized that women did face more unseen hurdles at work, asked about the obstacles we faced, and apologised for not having realised our struggles earlier.
9. Kept reminding us how to live more balanced lives.
10. Stayed present for me when I was going through a hard time.
11. Honestly told me I deserved more pay for my achievements and skills, despite whatever the company was telling me, and then fought for that pay increment to happen.
12. Gave me the brutal feedback I always needed to hear so that I would stop banging my head against the wall — including how I probably would thrive elsewhere other than the company we were working for.
13. Gave me full autonomy to lead a large area of work.

… and the list goes on.

Management is tough, but I've mostly been incredibly fortunate to work with mostly great managers. Looking back, how did your managers help you? Looking forward, how can we pay it back, and how might we pay it forward? What are we doing today to help perpetuate all these?