Why middle management isn’t ‘safe’ from AI displacement

RECENTLY, a senior principal at a global advisory firm came to me after his role was eliminated. His company had just lost one big client, but his record was sound – he had also brought in two new projects that quarter.

A few months earlier, another acquaintance who had spent a decade building a new division watched her company hire someone else to lead the function she created.

Different industries, different high performers. Neither companies were struggling. In each case, the role itself had changed – completed, absorbed, or redesigned around the absence of the person who used to perform it.