Is This the End of the Managerial Class?
Careerist managers who’ve long been able to coast under the radar, cover their asses with bullshit reporting up the chain, and who are really good at shifting blame don’t have any applicable skills to stand on.
1-minute 30-second read
It feels like we’re witnessing the end of the managerial class.
Once the dust settles in the market (it will) and tech companies hire at scale again (they will), I think we will see a new era of business where the managerial class doesn’t have a spot on the roster.
Before getting into why I think this, let me first define what I mean by the managerial class.
The managerial class is the managers who cannot execute—they can only tell others what to do. They are motivated by CYA. Ultimately, their job is to protect their job. And big companies had layers upon layers of this dead weight that cost a lot and delivered nothing.
Ok, now onto why.
Excess is being eliminated at companies. Hiring practices have/are correcting. Perspective has/is being gained.
Doers are the currency. If you can design, build, make, deliver, ship, connect, or move something—for your world today and for its future—you are of high value in the labor market.
Careerist managers who’ve long been able to coast under the radar, cover their asses with bullshit reporting up the chain, and who are really good at shifting blame don’t have any applicable skills to stand on.
Using jargon and telling others what to do aren’t skills. They’re covers for ineptitude.
Proficient is an incredibly useful term in hiring. It means intentional. It means relevant. It means applicable. It means problem-solution oriented.
When proficiency is the anchor, the perceived need (ahem, requirement) to hire for optics goes away. Box checking be damned. You either can or you can’t.
When things settle, competency will be the only filter.
So who’s going to lead all the doers? The doers with the ability to connect others, deliver on time and on scope, and work within constraints.
Onward.
Note: This is not unique to the tech industry.
Check out this post on LinkedIn. (Maybe give it a 👍.)