Going from a grinder to a minder (eg developer to manager) requires a different set of skills and a different mindset - soft skills for managing people. Some grinders can make the leap and some can't. Just because you are a 'brilliant' developer does not mean or imply that you will be even a moderately good manager. A grinder deals mainly with technology - a minder deals mainly with people. You can go on courses for 'people skills' or project management etc etc but if you haven't really got an instinctive 'feel' for minding then you're going to struggle. You also need to have/retain the respect of your grinders - which means that they respect both your technical and management skills. If you can't get their respect and keep it then you might as well go back to being a grinder. You need to be able to make decisions, know when things aren't going right and when to change things. You need to know what's going on and to keep on top of things. One of the biggest problems for a newly promoted grinder to minder is to realise that you are no longer a grinder!