Many good comments in this thread! Here's a practical item I'll add: Good managers offer praise in public. They offer critical feedback in private. Critical f

Many good comments in this thread! Here's a practical item I'll add: Good managers offer praise in public. They offer critical feedback in private. Critical feedback isn't necessarily the sign of a bad/mean/uncaring manager. (It's taken me a long time to learn this—and I still forget at times!) Important work often involves hard decisions, competing priorities, and so on. A good manager does not shield their team from this reality; they filter it appropriately and turn it into useful conversations, at the right time, with the right audience.