Why Do You Manage?

> an amazing astronaut may not be the best choice for leading NASA

I like this analogy. It uses one of the most extreme examples of technical proficiency in a field where the politics and logistics/management are publicly understood to be as difficult but in a different way. It underlines the separation of management and the work of those being managed.

> Managers forget they influence their direct report’s lives.

It is unclear to me which managers the author is talking about here. His/her managers? Is it self-reflective? If talking about "bad managers", I think that could be made more clear with a definition. In my limited experience, this is the exception and not the rule.