There's an old wives saying that my mom used to say to me. She would tell me "Michael, you're not helping." I think those words of wisdom best sum up the managering world, because as a manager your job is not to be helpful. Your job is to manage. After literally several years of experience at being a manager, I can tell you that being helpful isn't nearly as important as managing.
Another important thing about being a manager is probably communication. You can't expect a team that is following you to follow you if your communication skills aren't good. In order to manager good, you must first communicate good. But what the heck is managing anyway?
The dictionary defines manage as "to succeed in surviving or attaining ones aims especially against heavy odds"and that is definitely true but what does it mean? I think it means that if you're a good manager, your team will always be up against impossible odds and you will always tell them that (communication). A good leader will tell his team that they are hopelessly outmatched and that will lead them to succeed.
The most important part about being a manager though is humor, without a doubt. Nobody wants to work at a boring place for a dumb humorless jerk. Far too many workplaces fall victim to the "work and productivity" trap and it makes life literally awful for your friends. I call them friends because as a manager, I don't think of my employees as employees. I think of them as my best friends in the whole world who I pay to spend time with me and they think of me the same way. To them, I'm just like some cool guy who's probably in his mid twenties who sends them all the funniest YouTube videos and memes plus I pay them to party. I'm the coolest guy they know.
A good manager is first and foremost a good friend. You can't go bossing them around acting like you're more important than they are, even though I am. I don't ever tell them I'm more important to their faces though because that's disresepctful and that is also another important part of being a manager: Respect.
Respect is crucial to managing. You must respect them but more importantly, they must respect you. For example: say it's your birthday and you specifically asked for a mint chocolate chip ice cream cake and they bring you a fudgy the whale cake instead, you have to take action. You can't stand for excuses like the ice cream store is all out of mint chocolate chip cakes. You have to take action and order them to go to the other Baskin Robbins at the mall across town. These are the sorts of situations a manager must be prepared to face.