Middle management isn't the problem. It's the mirror.
Anyone who spends every day balancing contradictions that the system itself does not resolve – is not the bottleneck. They hold together what would otherwise fall apart.
Anyone who spends every day balancing contradictions that the system itself does not resolve – is not the bottleneck. They hold together what would otherwise fall apart.
I see this again and again in my work. And I think it's time to say it plainly.
Because as long as leaders are measured on hitting their targets – they will not release their best people for innovation projects.
Not because they are narrow-minded. But because the system rewards exactly that.
The question is not: What is wrong with middle management?
The question is: What is wrong with the system?