Asklemmy

I'm halfway through scrolling this long thread, and this is the first comment I've seen that isn't overly cynical. It's also correct.

I've been working for 38 years, and I've been someone who makes promotion decisions for 15 of them. The third one is helpful, not essential, but the others are super important. The people who rise to leadership positions aren't necessarily the top technical people, they're the ones who do those things with a good attitude.

The other thing I'd add is that they're people who are able to see the big picture and how the details relate to it, which is part of strategic thinking.

I was taught that my job is "to make sure all my bosses surprises are pleasant ones". 15 years of working as an engineer and that never changed. Now I have my own business and that's the thing I look for employees.. someone I can leave on their own to do a job. It they have problems they can always ask me. If they screw up I expect them to tell me immediately and to have a plan of action to fix it and to prevent it happening again. And I never ever get cross if someone does come to me and say they screwed up. Far better that we tell the client about a problem than wait until the client finds the problem themselves.

Reading all these comments makes me realize how lucky I've been in my career. I've always had great bosses who defended me and backed me up.