Damien and I nearly capsized the 16-footer we took out to the bay today... and that was my weekend!

. . .

Actually, I did catch up on movies this weekend. Here are my short reviews:

• Death Race - Awesome B movie
• Babylon A.D. - Ending was a letdown.
  
• Quantum of Solace - Pretty much what I expected. 

. . .

I saw a link to "Almost Perfect: How a Bunch of Regular Guys Built WordPerfect Corporation" a couple of weeks back - it's a link to the site, which has the whole book online! I hate reading long documents online, so I ended up picking up a used copy (Amazon link)- it's been a fun book to read. Not particularly insightful, but I always like reading about the beginnings of companies.

. . .

Saw a great blog post: "Top 10 Reasons Managers Become Great"

Here's the list:

1. Enjoy helping people grow.
2. Love creating positive environments.
3. Want to correct mistakes inflicted on them.
   
4. Care deeply about the success and well being of their team.
   
5. Succession mentality.
6. Long term sense of reward.
7. Practice of the golden rule.
8. Self aware, including weaknesses.
   
9. Sets tone of healthy debate and criticism.
   
10. Willing to fight, but picks their battles.
11. Instinctively corrects bad behavior within their team.

(Yeah, yeah, it has eleven).

I agree in spirit with "Sets tone of healthy debate", but it must be accompanied with a complementary rule: "Know when to pick sides and push people to agree." "Long term sense of reward" is another good one in theory, but its explanation seems like a bit of a stretch. Short-term and long-term gains aren't mutually exclusive. And I'm not sure how it really contributes to being a great manager.

A couple I'd add:

1. Really listens.
   
2. Always has an open-door policy.

Anybody who is interested in reading a good book on managing people, I highly recommend Rands' book.

I find it refreshing sometimes to break everything down to its basic component. So here it is: "What is the role of a manager?"

It's to create an environment to allow people to succeed. It is not to tell people what to do, but to give them the support in order for them to go out and do. Set the ball in motion, then step away and watch people succeed. Oftentimes the cynic in me forgets this.