October 28, 2026
A cartoon illustration showing three cats labeled Strat-Cat, Middle, and Kitten, highlighting why AI brought middle managers back to the workplace.

Why AI Brought Middle Managers Back

As organizations flattened hierarchies in pursuit of AI efficiency, they killed employee trust. Middle management brings human judgment and purpose. In 2023 Meta began aggressively laying off middle managers and shifting others back into individual contributor (IC) roles. Zuckerberg created a highly flattened structure with massive spans of control (sometimes […]