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A manager is essentially a gatekeeper. They don't have to and shouldn't do anything. They merely need to be socially accepted as having good "taste". That they can spot greatness, grow it, and reject that which doesn't have it.

Most managers are actually bureaucrats. "Management" as a concept is more similar to what VCs do. They manage allocation of capital and resources rather than enforce procedure.

Management by bureaucrats builds resentment b/ it feels inhuman. We actually want good management because we want to be seen and be seen as good and heading in the right direction. Some going down a checklist afraid to have an original thought. is as good as a robot.

Good management is allowing people to be seen. To build trust so that this happens. Bad management is asking people to hide. To fake.

This is why books on good management feel so fake. They may have actual advice but they detail out things to the point where you can fake being a good manager and fake being a good employee. The redpill concept has a similar issue.

By laying bare the mechanism, the beauty that was sustained by its innocence is destroyed.

Every book about a utopia written eventually starts feeling like a dystopia. That's what most management books feel like to me.