Communication is important, sure. But I don’t think it’s the most important skill for managers.

If communication was the key skill needed to be a great manager, it would imply that great managers could parachute in to run any old team, as long as they were able to communicate well.

But the best managers don’t just communicate their decisions; they need to exercise judgment and expertise to make good decisions in the first place. And making good decisions requires understanding your technology/product/team very well, which all go far beyond communication.

I agree. Good communication can feel good while not providing any benefit to reports or the business. Good communication paired with good decision making is the best but if you have to pick between the two, you need good decision making while communication is just nice to have.

Very true - decision quality is super important! My point here is that trust erodes in the absence of good communication, and when that happens, your decisions matter less because you won‘t be able to deliver on them as effectively.

In your other point though, I‘ve seen highly effective managers who didn‘t understand much of what the team was doing technically, because the were able to build trust among everyone involved in major processes.