As an individual, it's very hard to avoid incompetent managers. There are so many different ways a manager can fall short, and it's often very difficult to asse

As an individual, it's very hard to avoid incompetent managers. There are so many different ways a manager can fall short, and it's often very difficult to assess before joining a team. Even if you have a personal connection to someone on the manager's team, they may not be very observant or may not even realize something could be better. Also, there's a practical limit to how many times you can change managers. This means it's important to learn certain communication skills even if you wouldn't need them with an ideal manager.