Chunky posted... No, I don't expect people to understand management roles that well...which is why i'm really impressed with guy #2.
guy #1 is a great employee, but like I mentioned he's a "yes man". i'll go over some examples:
* a different manager was abusing his power and having his subordinates do things that were not their job. guy #1 wasn't happy with it, but he always did what he was told, never asked any questions. it was actually guy #2 that reported the issue and had the manager held accountable.
* i like being critiqued for things. guy #2 has spoke out about some things i did wrong, which ended up being important things that i fixed, and it helped our team as a whole. guy #1 has always just listened and agreed with everything i said.
* not sure if this counts as a "yes man" or not, but guy #1 doesn't adapt too well to change. if i have him do anything that is kinda different from his normal work, he gets stuck easily. in general he's a slow learner. some of my other employees can adapt to change much easier.
* guy #1 in general is just very timid. no backbone. you can tell whenever you have a 1-on-1 meeting with him. he always agrees with whoever is conducting the meeting, even if he doesn't really agree.
Guy 2 sounds like he will eventually get a hold of your balls and leave you in between a rock and a hard place.