#ClubChat: Who was your best-ever boss as a Community Manager, and why?

This is so easy: Evan Hamilton. He was my first "real" boss and taught me how big the field of CM actually was. He's super good at this stuff, humble, and someone who really let me "run with it" at work.

Erik Martin, hands down. I learned so much from him, and he was always ready to get in the weeds with me. Like Carter said of Evan, Erik trusted me (god only knows why) and gave me ownership that I really appreciated and valued, and it was an example for how I could be a boss eventually.

I never had one haha Actually, I had a Ron Swanson-like boss at PRMIA, Graham Pugh, who stayed out of my way and allowed me to do all of the heavy lifting. Ended up learning a lot from peers, or people I chose to co-lead communities with. Just a lot of failing fast, and arming yourself with empathy.
Given that community is becoming a nexus point in the organization (much like growth marketing did or what the talent should have evolved into), as in community and other roles are becoming more bi-directional and rely on each other to be successful, it really depends on what the ultimate goal of the role is or the KPIs are, so context matters and also how you like do your work, your working style, so different leadership styles. I prefer someone, like Carter, humble, knowledgeable, but lets me "run with it". I'm an activator and I enjoy uncovering parts of the organization (sub company) that would help/ positively impact the community in some way.

My best 'manager' was our team lead, Holly Herbert. She doesn't do community anymore but she was an amazing & supportive lead.

I'll follow that up with Heather McNair who managed me when I first came to Higher Logic - amazing, let me have autonomy and knew when to step in as I was about to slap myself in the face. :)