For past 2 years, I have interacted with Directors a bit more and following stood out among the Directors I like. 1) Clarity in vision and ability to articulat

For past 2 years, I have interacted with Directors a bit more and following stood out among the Directors I like. 1) Clarity in vision and ability to articulate it to the team is very important. 2) Engineers will zone out if you sprinkle sales (and/or management) mumbo, jumbo. Engineers (anyone for that matter) appreciate clear communication and reasoning behind management decisions. Many times, management decisions aren't clear cut. That's OK. But calling it out as is is being honest and engineers appreciate that. Most recently, I had an interesting experience speaking with a Director during a job interview. I asked for reasons behind building a product by their team. I explained why it's not a good idea. The Director kept throwing sales and marketing terms and was clearly out of his depth. What should have been a 30 min interview was cut short in 10 min and I was walked out. I did not get the job. I'm glad I didn't. But key take away for me was, as a Director, they will be bridge to many departments (Engineers, Sales, Marketing, Customers). They should have good understanding of the product, how to pitch to everyone. I hope this will be useful.