It has been months since we all read the story of Sam Altman quitting ChatGPT, or at least the part that shareholders wanted all of us to know. In case you missed it, the short version is this: CEO gets ousted by shareholders, workforce rises up to say they’ll quit if they don’t reinstate. Here’s the part where things got wild to me: they actually brought back the CEO.

If you’ve worked in a company with shareholders and a board before, you know that they typically don’t change their minds about employees. If they’ve decided to hire or fire you, thy will shall be done. The end. No discussion. But in this case, the workers stood up to the board and created change.

This outcome led to a fury of HR headlines, posts, and tweets. While some were curious about the dynamics, most touted Sam Altman as the ultimate people leader. Clearly his team was engaged and all those other buzzwords we use as a bar for employee engagement success. But is having an army of people who will quit if you do mean you’re a great manager? I don’t think so.

What Does It Take To Be A Great Boss? Survey Says... 

Cult-like is a weird bar for success when it comes to any kind of company, let alone the one so many people are worried will hack their jobs and steal their livelihood. So if cult isn't our "best in class" definition of a good boss, what does it really take?

A good manager in today's workforce is usually characterized by some combination of emotional intelligence and adaptability. I mean, think about the last few years. Managers that can’t adapt to change in real time take it out on everyone around them. The only constant lately is that things change.

But most important of all? Effective communication. A good manager has to be able to communicate clearly about expectations, provide specific feedback, and listen.

Want To Keep People? Train Leaders

So why aren’t companies investing in teaching folks how to be good managers? Often it comes down to the bottom line. Companies believe they should reward the people who do the best work with leadership positions. This reward comes without acknowledging that being good at doing work and leading people aren’t the same skill set. In fact, they’re given work that’s harder than any project: managing unpredictable people.

Companies invest in tools, software, and everything else for success. But not managers. Seems silly to me. Every day, people get out of bed and leave behind people (and pets) they care about to show up for an organization’s success. Ultimately, those little tasks and actions  managers take rarely add up to much of a difference in a paycheck. But for the owners of that business, having strong leadership at scale is often the difference between success and failure.

If companies want to build places people want to stay at, they don’t need more perks and benefits. They need to invest in making better leaders. People who inspire others and make them as loyal as a bunch of people who’d walk out of their jobs tomorrow after they were ousted (minus the creepy cult-like stuff).