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Best IT boss I ever had came up through the ranks of the supermarket chain where we worked. He had interest, but not a lot of expertise in computing. But he knew people, and how to manage them, because he had actually had to do it and show results for two decades in the markets.
Most of the time he didn't know exactly what I was doing, but he could see that I was productive and effective. When I came in with a proposal to revolutionize the chain by networking the stores, he didn't know exactly what I was proposing, but he could see the benefit of it and fought for it with the company's board. Together we moved mountains.
Most IT managers are promoted from technical positions and have no idea how to actually manage people. The last director I had, when it came time for the company to move, specifically chose his office because it was furthest away from his people. He was a disaster, and it's partly due to him (and 85% due to his useless CEO boss) that the company no longer exists. He helped drive a wedge between development and marketing --the people who were trying to figure out how to monetize their services. He made it possible for development to become an empire of their own, and eventually empire was everything and development literally stopped producing new products for people take an interest in and buy.
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