Google recently completed an internal study designed to identify what characterizes excellent managers.  Their findings were, evidently, a surprise to them (but not to our very own Mathew Sheep).  In brief, Google found that technical skills were dead last of the eight most important attributes of successful managers.  The top seven were all “people-related” in some way–communication, coaching, having a vision, caring about people as individuals, etc.

Click here for the full article and thanks to Dr. Sheep for sharing this with us.

Last week Wall Street Journal had a great little article on “bad” managers.  Click here for the article.  If you don’t have a subscription to WSJ, here’s a quick overview:  You might be a bad manager if:  1) You write one-word e-mails to staff; 2) You rarely (or never) talk to employees face-to-face; 3) Employees are out sick a lot; 4) People are working overtime, but still miss deadlines; and 5) You yell a lot.

Your thoughts?