You're bound to be a manager

Within the next decade, everyone will be managing someone - whether that’s humans, AI agents, or both.

Over the past two years, we’ve witnessed the flattening of organizational hierarchies in big tech. Middle management roles that are between senior leadership and individual contributors, have disappeared in large numbers. Many big tech companies like Meta and Google have eliminated entire layers of management, forcing remaining employees to take on coordination and leadership responsibilities regardless of their official titles. The numbers tell the story: 40% of employees watched their companies slash management layers in 2025. The traditional career ladder isn’t just shorter, entire rungs have disappeared. This is also happening at small and mid-size companies, where these roles are reduced to create the budget to invest in AI.

In today’s AI-driven workplace, the role of the manager is being reshaped in real time. The skills of a manager are highly valuable and even the individual contributor will need to have those skills for the future. Only time will tell how this will all turn out in the future. For now, we can only be prepared and adapt to the skills needed in the future.

As these hierarchies flatten, it’s worth examining what traditional management actually entailed and what’s changing now.

Management has always been a balancing act, keeping the business focused on the outcomes while supporting and growing the people who make it happen.

The role of middle managers involved collaboration, coordination, reporting, performance management, bridging leadership and ICs, and being responsible for the development of their team. And leveraging these resources to get to the business goals.

Every organization has different expectations from their managers. But the main purpose of this role is to lead a group of people, in a specific direction while collaborating with the rest of the teams, and ensuring the well-being of their team.

The typical path is as follows:

IC → Manager → Senior Manager → Director → VP → C-suite

Each promotion indicates an ability to handle more direct reports and have bigger influence on organizational growth. Fewer roles existed at each level, creating a natural funnel.

After speaking with dozens of mid-level managers across tech companies, I’m seeing a clear pattern. Their roles have evolved dramatically, and there’s widespread uncertainty about what comes next.

The driving forces behind this change are clear: AI automation is handling routine coordination tasks, economic pressures are forcing efficiency, and remote work has changed how teams operate. Some highly regulated industries like healthcare and finance aren’t seeing this impact yet, but they can expect changes soon.

Here’s the key shift: you could once choose between staying as an individual contributor or becoming a manager. In the AI era, everyone will likely need managerial skills, with or without the title. You’ll need to blend technical expertise with people skills to coordinate mixed teams of humans and AI under constant change. The worth of the manager is no longer tied to the “headcount managed”. It will be tied to the business outcome.

Here’s what this looks like in practice. Picture this: You’re working on a product launch with one human designer, one human engineer and two AI agents. Your job isn’t just delegation, it’s translation between human creativity and AI logic, and making sure the right things are being worked on. Leave the job to the AI agents and they will optimize for metrics only, that probably don’t matter while the humans will know the right priorities to work on.

The silver lining? Hopefully no performance reviews for the AI agents, and not being worried about hurting their feelings when giving feedback.

This shift creates new priorities for adaptability and influence. If you want to remain valuable, focus on these four areas:

• Keep your technical and domain edge. Being a generalist will be valuable, but don’t lose touch with your craft or domain expertise. Deep knowledge in your field will differentiate you from generalist AI tools.

• Become AI adaptable. Change in tools and technology will be constant and faster than before. AI won’t replace managers, but managers who leverage AI will replace those who don’t. This means continuous re-skilling, learning evolving AI tools, and implementing them for efficiency and innovation.

• Business outcomes are your business. Gone are the days when you could focus solely on your expertise without considering business impact. All employees will be expected to think about revenue, growth, efficiency, and customer value—not just their individual tasks.

• Master the human skills AI can’t touch. Leadership requires storytelling, alignment and effective communication. Cultivating trust, resilience, and inclusion where AI can’t will be super important. These are must-have skills essential for everyone. These human capabilities are what will set you apart in an AI-driven world.

There is more chaos to come as organizational structures undergo major changes in the coming years. I feel the role of this manager will become one of a conductor who can manage people and AI. They’re the glue and the compass, guiding teams through disruption while keeping the business moving forward.

Yes, some might argue that “everyone being a manager” is unrealistic. But when AI handles routine tasks and hierarchies flatten, coordination and leadership skills become everyone’s responsibility, regardless of title.

What skills are you focusing on to stay future-ready?

Hi, I’m Dipti, and I work with ambitious professionals navigating growth and change. Each week, I share practical insights, personal stories on leadership and intentional living.

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