Management and the replacement refs

I have been watching American football for many years. All along, it never occurred to me, even once, the referees are doing a pretty decent job. Once in a while, in a game, referees would make a poor call, and that would frustrate the viewers. But all in all, the focus is the game, and not the performance of the referees.

Then in the 2012 season, the regular referees went on strike and NFL deployed replacement referees. All of a sudden it occurred to me what a great job the regular referees do. Everyone was talking about the poor calls of the replacement refs. A bad call in at least one case reversed the outcome of a game.

Good managers are like regular referees. You generally don't realize they are doing a good job. Once in a while, they mess up, but the focus is the work and the not performance of the manger. 

The good work of a manager can easily go unnoticed. All it takes to appreciate the work of a good manager is to observe or worst yet to have a poor manager. The direct reports of a poor manager are frustrated, demotivated, and can't wait for Friday to come.

What good managers do has been the subject of many books and articles. The essence of all is a fundamental understanding of people.