[pts_]

Managers want prisoners. Tradespeople don't fall for this shjt, white collar employees shouldn't.

[tomrod]

I think a better mental model is that managers want _control_. If you are known for keeping your word and being frank in your goals, you are forecastable in how you will act and management steps back from trying to control and maybe even trusts you. If you aren't this way (and most folks aren't), then you become a pawn in a lot of manager headgames.

Some managers are just a--holes, granted.