There's a spectrum from a manager not expressing an opinion to a manager giving a direct order. I have had managers that never gave a direct order that I witnes

There's a spectrum from a manager not expressing an opinion to a manager giving a direct order. I have had managers that never gave a direct order that I witnessed. Usually the implied meaning when they "told" you what to do was, "I really think you should do it this way, and if you do it a different way and things go badly, the responsibility is entirely yours." The closest they came to a direct order was when you could tell they thought something was so colossally stupid they would fire you on the spot for doing it. If they thought it was only mildly stupid, the consequences would not be absolute unless they felt it was part of a pattern. I've also had bosses that gave orders, so I'm not saying it's always that way, just that it's not always black and white.