Great managers run teams that do the actual building. Management is all about human-centric execution. Great managers know how to define goals and set operational cadences, all while helping each report have a clear view of their current performance and future career aspirations. Teams with great managers have a high level of trust, experience the

the question that led me to study Russian literature—why some people live productively and joyfully while others feel, as Marx put it, alienated from their labor—was central to a boss’s job. In fact, part of my job was to figure out how to create more joy and less misery. My humanity was an attribute, not a liability, to being effective.