Appreciation for One's Technical Contributions

Someone once coined the phrase (more or less paraphrasing) I certainly agree with:

Great leaders learn from being great followers

In many ways knowing what has made me just "click" with my prior managers helps me be a better manager of others.  One of the greatest feelings as a follower is knowing your manager that truly appreciates your contributions.  This appreciation also I think has to go beyond how it impacts the business or customer base.

For gifted developers, it is important they have managers that have fought themselves in the trenches and have garnered respect from their employees based on their own technical abilities.  Ideally a great technical manager can pass still on expertise to even a senior developer.

Even today as I serve as a very senior member of my company's technical arm, it is still important for those above me to be able to appreciate the technical quality of what is produced by my group.  Given where I am in my career this does seem to become more and more difficult to find but still is a driving factor determining whether a job is the right one for me.