The Best Manager in the Company Has to Be You

"The quality of a company at scale is equal to the quality of the management team."

Some CEOs put in great performances at the all-hands.

They talk about people being the company’s most important asset. They eloquently speak about respect, growth, treating employees well. You feel like you’re at a motivational TED talk!

But then that same CEO can walk back to their office, reschedule their 1:1s for the third week in a row, fire off a terse message to the CMO, and shrug when they find out the engineering team has lost another employee.

No matter how invigorating the speech at the all-hands, employees will base their actions on what they see from the CEO. That’s especially true for managers. If they see the CEO slacking off on basic management duties, why should they put in the effort?

When you attain the level of CEO, you might assume you get to do just the exciting stuff. You make the big calls, raise capital, craft strategy, work with the board. It’s heady stuff.

But the truth is, you’re still a manager, and you’re the most influential one in your company. You can’t give…