Julie Zhou, in her book The Making of a Manager, highlights the importance of a manager's function in aligning vision and inspiring their team. To nurture a successful team, I believe in three somewhat unconventional principles: maintaining a positive attitude, practicing empathy, and fostering enthusiasm about conquering technical obstacles.

Firstly, a good mood is crucial for proactive leadership; how you feel affects how you interact with others and your ability to effectively manage. Happy people inspire happiness in others, hence it is vital to find personal happiness and resilience to succeed as a leader.

Secondly, empathizing with team members allows managers to understand their struggles. This empathy can help create an environment in which everyone feels enthusiastic about tasks and duties handed over to them. Managers should always assume positive intent in their team because most people deal with issues beyond their immediate working environment.

Lastly, cultivating excitement in the team is crucial for innovation. Managers should focus on aligning team member’s interests with the goal of the team and always look for ways to spark their excitement.

EM Tip #3: effective management begins by maintaining a happy and resilient attitude, practicing empathy with team members, and sparking excitement to drive innovation.

From there mechanisms for feedback and scaling impact (including auditing these mechanisms), as well as critical conversations all become crucial, but that's for another time....