What’s the value of a manager?

I recently read in a job description for a VP-level role: “You must be an outstanding individual contributor. You’re not here just to tell other people what to do.” That’s right — according to this company, a Vice President, who will have 8–10 direct reports in this role and is responsible for leading an organization, had better be focusing their time on individual projects. Otherwise, what are they doing with their day? Probably just kicking their feet up on the desk and barking orders. As someone who deeply values the importance of a thoughtful, engaged leader, I find these types of statements to be outdated and wrong. But they’ve become incredibly common. Mark Zuckerberg made headlines recently with his <a href="https://www.dice.com/career-advice/meta-may-force-managers-to-become-individual-contributors" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">reported comments</a> that he wanted to eliminate the company’s multiple levels of management. “I don’t think you want a management structure that’s just managers managing managers, managing managers, managing managers, managing the people who are doing the work.” Elon Musk’s <a href="https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1586686935518498816" rel="noopener ugc nofollow" target="_blank">take</a> on the “most messed up” thing at Twitter? “There seem to be 10 people ‘managing’ for every one person coding.” Certainly there are companies where the management layers have gotten unruly. But some of these anti-manager comments feel like a devaluation of the impact that a great leader can offer. They imply that managers aren’t doing anything useful, and we’d be better off without them. It’s unfortunate that so many people still don’t realize that a great manager can be the difference between impactful outputs or mediocre ones. Between team engagement or disillusionment. Between retention or attrition. Between success or failure. <a href="https://medium.com/management-matters/whats-the-value-of-a-manager-1af0884014b9">Learn More</a>