Should We Get Rid of Managers?

The Future Of Work With Jacob Morgan

Should we get rid of managers? This is the topic of a trending article floating around LinkedIn recently. I absolutely believe we need get rid of the terms manager and #management​ BUT it's not just about a name change.

Nobody even wants to be called a manager anymore and people certainly don't want to be managed. These concepts were created decades ago and the synonyms for manager actually include: slavedriver, boss, and zookeeper!

Moving from #manager​ to #leader​ is about a #mindset​ and skill set change as opposed to just changing a title. I interviewed over 140 CEO's for my new book The Future Leader and got 140 different definitions of #leadership​.

The CEO of Verizon told me he defines leadership as "achieving the missions of the business, all else is footnotes."

The CEO of Audi told me leadership is about "walking the extra mile and solving problems that others cannot solve. Foremost, leadership is about caring for people and not only for numbers."

Every organization and every leader needs to first start with defining "leadership" and "leader" before worrying about a name change.

Which definition resonates more with you and why? Do you have your own?