Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work

Summary

If you're thinking of cutting your midlevel managers in the new world of work, think again.

"Middle manager." The term evokes a bygone industrial era in which managers functioned like cogs in a vast machine and bureaucracy ruled. In recent decades, midlevel managers became a favorite target for the chopping block—underappreciated, often considered a superfluous layer of the organization.

Not only does this outdated perspective need to change, the future demands it. In Power to the Middle, McKinsey thought leaders Bill Schaninger, Bryan Hancock, and Emily Field call for a profound reimagining of what middle managers can and must be able to do. They explain how middle managers are uniquely positioned close to the ground but with a crucial connection to company strategy—enabling them to guide organizations through the current period of rapid and complex change, as well as help to shape the new world of work.

With rich stories and cutting-edge research, Power to the Middle offers a new model for companies to radically alter the way they hire, train, and reward their most valuable asset: managers, the true center of the organization.