http://weblogs.media.mit.edu/SIMPLICITY/
When a team succeeds at achieving a lofty goal, the good boss credits her team members as being the reasons for success instead of herself. This "boss behavior" enables the team to trust their boss as one who enables their own careers over the boss' own career.
When a team fails at achieving a lofty goal, the good boss owns the failure as her own and doesn't blame the team. This boss behavior enables the team members to take creative risks with their work, and not feel they will be penalized by their boss when/if they fail.
Both boss behaviors require the core attributes of the boss as: 1) being self-assured but not an *sshole about it, 2) keeping the larger goals in mind with priority over the issues that are just local to herself, and 3) facing each day with acceptance of the challenging responsibilities that comes with being the boss.
Reader Aida in Georgia importantly notes, "To me, the qualities of the 'good boss' that you described are the difference between a 'boss' and a 'leader.' Having been a 'boss' and having been a member of team, I make this distinction, and I'd much rather work for a leader than a boss :-)"