The Future of Middle Management

This morning I read a piece in Harvard Business Review — the apex of thoughtful, measured, data-rich corporate discourse — titled “What’s the Future of Middle Management?”

Spoiler: It’s not extinction.

The authors make a reasonable case: middle managers are still vital because of their unique position in the organizational food chain.

But — and it’s a big but — to stay relevant, they need to shrink in numbers and evolve in function.

Less compliance cop, more talent developer.

Less command-and-control, more coach-and-collaborator.

They’re supposed to foster creativity, protect frontline teams from top-down lunacy, and facilitate upskilling.

My take? Feels good. Sounds right. Doesn’t hold.

Let’s unpack the problems — there are few.

1. More middle, not less

The authors open with a stat that torpedoes their own narrative: the proportion of middle managers has increased over the last 40 years — from 9% in 1983 to 13% in 2022.

That’s not fewer middle managers. That is more. Way more.

Bottom line? Just because the middle is swelling doesn’t mean it’s necessary. It means it’s bloated.

2. You can’t coach with a whistle and a gun

The authors suggest turning managers into coaches. Sure. And let’s turn police officers into yoga instructors while we’re at it.

Newsflash: slapping a whistle on someone with formal power doesn’t make them a coach — it makes them a boss pretending to play nice.

Hierarchies don’t produce empathy, they enforce compliance.

Expecting non-hierarchical behavior in a hierarchical system is like expecting dogs to meow.

As the great philosopher Gino D’Acampo once said when told his dish was “British carbonara”:

Bottom line? You can’t expect human beings to behave in ways the structure doesn’t promote – or allow.

3. Middle management as moral shield?

Please. Another gem: middle managers should protect frontline workers from executives.

Translation: the adults upstairs need other adults to babysit the kids downstairs.

That’s pure paternalism, repackaged as “support.”

This is the unspoken moral contract in traditional hierarchy: top-down control in exchange for top-down protection.

Daddy makes the rules, but Daddy will also keep you safe. Grow up.

Bottom line? Adults don’t need protection. They need power. Dismantle the hierarchy and treat people like peers — not children.

4. Same old case studies, same old fear.

GitHub. Valve. Zappos. The tired trio of “flatter orgs gone wrong” is wheeled out like ghost stories at corporate campfires.

Yes, there were failures. No, they weren’t the whole story.

What these cautionary tales ignore: the dozens — hundreds — of organizations thriving with self-management, radical transparency, and decentralized teams.

We’ve seen them. We’ve worked with them. In fact, we’ve designed an intensive 6-week masterclass around them.

They’re not theoretical — they’re real, they scale, and they work.

Bottom line? Cherry-picking failure stories doesn’t prove the model is broken. It proves your bias.