[mbrodersen]

A good manager is worth his/her weight in gold. The problem is that 90% of managers I have worked with are not good managers. I was a manager (and ran my own business with employees as well) for 10+ years, have worked 25+ years in the industry, and have more than once helped not-very-good managers get their projects back on track. The #1 problem I have seen is managers not understanding what their job really is. The result is a manager who has a negative productivity impact on the team he/she is managing. Add a few layers of bad managers on top of that, and you have a dysfunctional company.