Since McKinsey’s book Power to the Middle was published in 2023, its message has been spreading far and wide. Thought leaders Emily Field, Bryan Hancock, and Bill Schaninger profoundly reimagine what middle managers can and must do, in a way that is an antithesis to what they do now in many organizations. In our authors’ school of thought, middle managers can be key players in an organization’s competition for talent and should be given higher-value compensation instead of being promoted out of their jobs.
Joining this anthology of authors is Cornelius Chang who applies this groundbreaking concept to the Singapore landscape in an op ed, “Not everyone thrives in a managerial role”, for national broadsheet The Straits Times, co-written with Field and Hancock. “In Singapore and Asia at large, organizational and societal norms often reflect a strong emphasis on tradition. Employees aspire to become senior leaders and executives because of the recognition that comes with that,” says Chang. “We need to start to change the conversation about, and perception and reality of middle management roles by consciously recognizing that there will never be sufficient senior leadership and executive roles for all, and perhaps more importantly, that middle management have just as an important a role to play.”
The op ed addresses this by highlighting the key points of this approach to middle management and pointing to examples of organizations in Singapore and Southeast Asia who boldly made this change. “Fundamentally, it could increase organizational performance,” Chang explains. “In an environment where not everyone needs to pursue vertical progression, but instead can continue to do what they enjoy and are good at, while also developing their skills and advancing their compensation, employees could play to their strengths. Leadership culture changes from one of hierarchy, where managers see themselves as the ‘squeezed middle’ reporting to others as leaders, to becoming real leaders with critical responsibilities. With less pressure to advance, employees could be more motivated to develop and focus instead on their own learning and growth, and therefore improve performance.”
Read the full op ed in The Straits Times. It is behind a paywall.