> From what little I have seen, this kind of role is tightly coupled and dependent on the their Manager.
As you go up the chart you have more independence and are less tightly coupled to your manager. By the time you get to principal you should be largely independent. At the same time, you have much more responsibility.
That's just a practical problem. As your manager becomes more senior (director/VP) their scope also increases. They just cannot "manage" you the way someone would manage a more junior IC. Also at the principal level you aren't just bringing value to your manager, but to other parts of the org as well.
In other words, I can't ask my manager "what should I do today?". I cannot even imagine what his reaction would be if I asked that question.
> The manager has to you like as a person and some how believe that all these activities are adding value.
For what it's worth my manager is a great person. But he wouldn't for a moment believe anyone when they say they add value.
It's up to me to find ways to document and express my value. Figuring out how to do this is part of becoming a principal. So I keep notes, I record wins, I make sure that I do things that bring me visibility, that I present new ideas, I contribute to larger roadmaps at the org level, I make sure that other scientists can say good things about me, I help fix problems that other orgs have so that they report I was useful, etc.
As you go up the chart you have more independence and are less tightly coupled to your manager. By the time you get to principal you should be largely independent. At the same time, you have much more responsibility.
That's just a practical problem. As your manager becomes more senior (director/VP) their scope also increases. They just cannot "manage" you the way someone would manage a more junior IC. Also at the principal level you aren't just bringing value to your manager, but to other parts of the org as well.
In other words, I can't ask my manager "what should I do today?". I cannot even imagine what his reaction would be if I asked that question.
> The manager has to you like as a person and some how believe that all these activities are adding value.
For what it's worth my manager is a great person. But he wouldn't for a moment believe anyone when they say they add value.
It's up to me to find ways to document and express my value. Figuring out how to do this is part of becoming a principal. So I keep notes, I record wins, I make sure that I do things that bring me visibility, that I present new ideas, I contribute to larger roadmaps at the org level, I make sure that other scientists can say good things about me, I help fix problems that other orgs have so that they report I was useful, etc.