What Makes a GREAT Manager? (it’s not what you think)
About this video
Based on Julie’s book The Making of a Manager — she became a manager at age 25 and argues great managers are made, not born — Jeff Su opens with a diagnostic: do you get more satisfaction from the outcome being achieved or from playing a particular role in getting there? He covers three of the book’s eight qualities in depth. 1) Build trust: show vulnerability (Brene Brown: vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage), give specific recognition (e.g. praising keeping the room engaged with an interactive poll and the call-out on slide 7, not just ‘great job’), and prepare for 1:1s with relevant questions in the categories identify, understand and support. 2) Give great feedback: set clear expectations with a timeline (his manager Greg expected ownership of a spreadsheet and an offline event in the first three months, running weekly status meetings alone in six months), make feedback specific and actionable (not ‘complicated’ but you lost the room with seven designs, let us vote on three next time), and collect 360-degree feedback for objectivity, citing Ed Batista of Stanford on fight-or-flight responses. 3) Run amazing meetings, where every meeting needs one of five outcomes: make a decision, share information, give feedback, generate ideas, or strengthen relationships.
Key takeaways
- Great-manager test: prioritise the team’s outcome over enjoying your individual-contributor role, e.g. fixing processes instead of closing deals yourself.
- Build trust by showing vulnerability, giving specific recognition that proves you paid attention, and arriving at 1:1s prepared with identify/understand/support questions.
- Set expectations up front with ideal outcomes on a timeline so reports know how success will be measured.
- Make feedback specific, timely and actionable, and combine your observations with 360-degree feedback to reduce defensiveness.
- Only hold a meeting for one of five outcomes — decision, information sharing, feedback, idea generation (brainstorm alone beforehand), or relationship strengthening.
Episode details: published February 7, 2023 · 7:21 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Jeff Su’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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