> Competent managers are few and far between, Steve Jobs said/did a lot of stupid crap but one cogent point he made was that the best managers are the ones who never wanted to be a manager, they just went and did it because they were sick of dealing with incompetent managers.
It's worth noting that a lot of terrible and mediocre managers also "...never wanted to be a manager, they just went and did it because they were sick of dealing with incompetent managers."
Reluctant managers don't do it because "wooo, no more managers - I'm free!"
Reluctant managers do it so that they can fix some of those things that everyone was complaining about before. They do it because they want people to stop suffering so much and they see ways to make that happen.
I don't think that could possibly describe a terrible manager.
No, I just think it's a quote that (if true) is easy to misinterpret, e.g.:
1. The best managers may have been reluctant managers, but that doesn't mean all reluctant managers are the best or even good.
2. The changes that reluctant manager may want to implement may not actually be good ones, because of concerns outside of their previous lower-level scope.
3. A reluctant manager may not actually have the personality for being a manager, and may become mediocre to terrible because what they have to do to be a manager is a heavier burden on them than it would be on other people.
It's worth noting that a lot of terrible and mediocre managers also "...never wanted to be a manager, they just went and did it because they were sick of dealing with incompetent managers."