Unambiguous. Approachable. Genuine desire to help. Clear objectives. Holds you accountable and offers stern feedback. Notices when you grow. Places you with people and problems that challenge you personally and technically. Completely capable of understanding complex tech. Insulates you from noise. Interrupts you when shit hits the fan. Demands answers, but gives you appropriate time to get answers. Makes risky, even costly decisions when time is of the essence and tradeoffs aren't clear.
Never blames you for something that isn't your fault.
Edit: by "placing you with people that... challenge you personally", I mean recognizing that your interpersonal skills need to grow. I'm rough around the edges and very direct, and I'm placed with an overly sensitive team member and expected to have a highly functional team, for example. What I definitely don't mean is "come rock climbing bro".
> What I definitely don't mean is "come rock climbing bro".
Ironically, one of my best managers was someone who invited people to go climbing with them. We had some very experienced climbers and some extremely novice ones and yet they were some of the most positive and friendly evenings of my life.
A mix of self effacing attitude ("well of course I found it easy, I've been doing this 20 years more than you and I'm also nearly a foot taller!") tied in with making sure people were only competitive against themselves ("well you've done that in half the time it took last week...") and honest useful advice made it a great experience.
I think there's also something to be said for working with someone who you literally trust your life to once a week... Never used the word "bro" though - that might be where we were going wrong ;)
It's weird how easy it is to be shitty manager. If someone is otherwise excellent, but blames you for stuff you didn't do? Instantly shitty manager there.
Never blames you for something that isn't your fault.
Edit: by "placing you with people that... challenge you personally", I mean recognizing that your interpersonal skills need to grow. I'm rough around the edges and very direct, and I'm placed with an overly sensitive team member and expected to have a highly functional team, for example. What I definitely don't mean is "come rock climbing bro".