1) Solicit ideas from everyone. Admit when you don&#x27;t know the best way. Attempt to achieve consensus. But be steadfast in the face of majority opposition when you&#x27;re sure you do know better.<p>2) Insist on always doing the right thing. Never compromise your standards or your ethics [0]. You set the example for everyone else.<p>3) Treat your customer like an honored guest in your home. Bend over backwards to understand them. But never let them anywhere near your developers. It&#x27;s not good for anyone, <i>especially</i> the customer.<p>4) Always take the heat for your team (which is easier if you&#x27;re the single point of contact for the customer). Always spread credit around.<p>5) Don&#x27;t get personally involved with your team [1]. You might have to fire one of them one day. And your praise will mean more. You can socialize with the whole team on occasion, but don&#x27;t do anything that could ever allow the appearance of favoritism to develop.<p>6) Trust people to do their work. Give them a chance to succeed... or fail. But the few that repeatedly and consistently fail to live up to expectations or even improve, get rid of.<p>[0] If anyone ever tells you &quot;we might as well do this unethical thing, because the customer will just get someone else to do it,&quot; your reply should be, &quot;well then, it doesn&#x27;t have to be me&quot; and walk away. I have done it twice now and have regretted neither time.<p>[1] I would like to think this goes without saying, but NEVER EVER EVER make sexual or romantic advances towards anyone under you. It is extremely unethical. If there is any chance of something happening, wait until you&#x27;re no longer on the same team. Best to wait for them to make the first move, too, if you&#x27;re still at a higher authority level after the team change.