What We Do: Sales recruiting

YOUR NEXT BOSS: MORE HARMONY, LESS AUTHORITY 

Prized for being ‘social-emotional experts,’ future managers may spend less time issuing directives and more time collaborating 

by KATHRYN DILL 

PUBLISHED in The Wall Street Journal,  JAN. 12, 2021 

No matter how much the office has changed, the trope of the boss has endured: Someone who put in years climbing the ranks or leapt between companies, propelled by triumphs in revenue growth. The best at charming new clients or closing deals. The manager with the final say on team objectives and your performance review. The person who could say without a hint of sympathy, “Yeah, I’m going to need you to come in on Saturday.”   

Is it time for that boss to go extinct? 

Cost-cutting measures first implemented during the financial crisis mean that the average boss today has twice the number of direct reports as a manager in the early aughts, according to Gartner, a research and advisory company—a trend that management experts predict will continue after the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, an increasing number of tasks that once ate up a manager’s time, such as auditing and approving expense reports, has been automated.