I had a conversation recently with a highly successful professional who, by traditional measures, has proven he knows what it takes to lead an enterprise to victory. But it wasn’t long before I was taken aback by something he said. As we were talking about the nature of my coaching clients, he interjected that he believes the biggest problem with large corporations is middle management. He went on to explain that middle managers are to blame for most of the failures within companies because, rather than making things happen for the organization, they act as a roadblock between upper management and front-line employees.
What struck me was how shortsighted he was. Yes, middle managers are responsible for motivating, inspiring and propelling front-line employees toward success for the organization. But that doesn’t mean that top management isn’t equally responsible (or even more so) for all that. Middle management’s failures are top management’s failures – just as folks in the C-suite can’t wholly take credit for the good things that happen in a company. It is symbiotic.
All executives must...
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