> I personally believe the best managers are those who have been at the front line and work their way up. They know the business from bottom-up and know how to

> I personally believe the best managers are those who have been at the front line and work their way up. They know the business from bottom-up and know how to treat people at each layer. I've seen good and bad managers come from both paths. The problem with the MBA and no experience path has been well tread in this thread, so I'll touch on the other a bit. The problem there is that often people who work their way up are promoted into management for reasons that are completely ancillary to their potential skill as a manager. Management is it's own skill and just because you were a really high performer as an individual contributor doesn't mean you'll be good at management. These are actually some of the worst managers I've ever seen. They also tend to lack the sort of broader business and strategy knowledge needed to really succeed in upper level management. As an example, I have worked with hospitals a lot as an analyst and my wife is a nurse. Hospitals are almost without exception the most poorly administered organizations I've ever experienced. Part of this is there are a lot of MHA and MPHs in upper management who've never spent a single day on the floor, but it's also because a lot of the management are people who got promoted not because they might be good managers but because they were outstanding nurses or Doctors or whatever else, and these people often make really bad managers. What organizations really should do is similar to what the military does. Have your potential managers take on small assignments and then if they show promise you send them for additional training and education, have them serve on the staff of higher level officers, etc. But this is expensive and it's an investment in training that most businesses are unwilling to make.