But... most Coaches, continuing the locker room analogy, are not good athletes. It's incredibly rare for them to be as skilled as the folks they are coaching an

But... most Coaches, continuing the locker room analogy, are not good athletes. It's incredibly rare for them to be as skilled as the folks they are coaching and its very likely they were never as skilled as the people they are coaching. Yet they are good coaches. Managers !== Coaches but I think you understand what I'm saying. Yes there are managers who are so technically incompetent that they are not good managers but most technical managers last management skills rather than technical skills and in most cases the technicals are not as important as the management skills. Any CTO/VP/Director of a mid/large sized company is a good example of this. They are no longer hands on. Their effectiveness comes from their ability to manage others.