Michael Jenkins is one of the FWF Partners who contributed to the recent report on the Future of Middle Management. His chapter in the report was based on his experience working for Toyota in Japan in the 1980s. In this he takes a trip down memory lane to recall a middle manager who left a lasting impression:
“My first interaction with middle managers started in the mid-80s, in Japan. I joined the Overseas Planning Department of Toyota Motor Corporation as a very junior white-collar worker helping to develop new car product information for sharing with Toyota dealerships around the world – brought in perhaps to help make car manuals from Japan more understandable to new car buyers across the world! My first real boss was an amazingly talented individual (I still think he was one of the cleverest people I have ever met) – and he was a Middle Manager.
I have come to realise just how critical my boss – and other team managers – known as kakaricho – were to the successful running of the business. It was in their part of the organisation and through individual mastery of ningen kankei (human relationships, human connections) that the miraculous feat of translating strategy (from the top) into “real” work (at the bottom), happened. Without their input – the input of these unsung heroes – it is hard to imagine how anything could ever have got done.”
Fast forward to 2026 and we can see that the need to foster and enable human connection has never been more important. Now we have AI to help us in a triangular relationship – humans/knowledge/AI – that forms #Collaborative Intelligence. The role of the middle manager continues to evolve in ways that would have been unthinkable for Michael’s middle manager boss of 40 years ago. Michael comments: “That hard-working man was a force of nature – a kind and gentle man. It is interesting to ponder what other amazing things he could have done – if he had had the power of AI alongside him”.
To read more about lessons from traditional hierarchies and the impact of AI on organisational structures, take a look at Michael’s chapter .
