
Ask HN: Who was your favorite manager and why? - smathieu
I&#x27;d like to hear the story of who was your favorite manager and why. What was the unique thing they did that made you more productive and&#x2F;or happy?
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avemuri
My first job, luckily. The office was a pretty aggressive and political place,
lots of people screwing each other over. He had a way of getting things done
while still being one of the nicest people I've met. More importantly, he was
liberal in sharing his thoughts.

It also showed me you don't have to be an asshole to get ahead. He had already
moved up very fast, and 10 years later is now the head of a 5000 person
organization. "What would Navneet do?" is still one of my internal checks when
I'm struggling with something. I'm pretty convinced management is an
apprenticeship business and I had a great mentor early in my career. I had
some lousy management later, not sure how well I would have coped without the
earlier exposure. I've developed my own style and incorporated stuff from
other people, books, and blogs. I'm probably fairly different in style and
personality to him today, but I think that one year laid the foundation of me
being at least competent.

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partisan
At my first job after college, I was invited out for drinks with a group of
co-workers. Being as shy as I was, I told them I had a big day ahead of me the
next day and that I couldn't stay out late. Well, my manager caught wind of
this and called me into her office to explain myself at which point she gave
me the next two days off to ensure that I would have no excuse for not going.
I went and had a great time.

I had a healthy fear of her but she was also a friend to me and gave me
relationship and career advice at every possible opportunity.

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pjungwir
In the first couple weeks of my first job I was helping a client build a
custom integration with our product. I thought through the general way I
wanted to do it, although I could imagine a couple alternatives. I started
presenting my ideas to my boss, and before I got to the end he told me to go
for it. I asked if he wanted to hear about the other options, and he said,
"No, I trust you." That was a pretty amazing way to get started.

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chrisbennet
I had a manager once who I don't recall ever actually telling me I needed to
do something.

Instead, he would let us know what he/we were trying to accomplish (Can we do
X?) and we'd figure out a way to do it. I remember telling him many times:
"Learn to live with disappointment Adam." \- but then I'd try to make it
happen anyway.

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codeonfire
Have you ever been in a situation where someone fixed every problem you have
or might have in the future because he or she understood your job and all the
problems you face better than you do. Yeah, that has never happened in 20
years of working.

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Flora310
I had a manage who tell me how to improve my ability of work with patience and
also encourage me in learning English frequently.More important thing is that
he can tell us how to do and give constructive feedback.

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timetraveller
Who was yours?

~~~
smathieu
When I was an intern at a large fortune 500 company, in the first week, my
manager had me schedule a 30 minute meeting with the 20 or so people I'd have
to interact with during my internship. This was pretty awkward at first to
walk up to people and ask 'can I interview you'?

Still, the benefits of this were huge. After the first week, I was aware of
who everyone was, what their job was, what they studied and what they liked to
do. It was a nice icebreaker that cut my onboarding time by a significant
amount.

