Mark Murphy

May 25, 2026

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5 min read

The 50-Year War on Middle Managers

From reengineering to holacracy to AI-native work, companies keep declaring middle managers obsolete. The pattern usually ends with the same rediscovery: someone still has to make the work work.

Mark Murphy

Coinbase's Layoff Memo Shows How Stupid the War on Managers Can Get

May 24, 2026

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3 min read

Coinbase's Layoff Memo Shows How Stupid the War on Managers Can Get

The new war on managers says everyone should be a player-coach, every team should shrink, and AI will cover the gaps. Coinbase’s memo shows how reckless that fantasy can get.

Mark Murphy

Meta's 50-to-1 Manager Ratio Is Not Management. It's Neglect With a Spreadsheet.

May 24, 2026

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4 min read

Meta's 50-to-1 Manager Ratio Is Not Management. It's Neglect With a Spreadsheet.

Meta’s reported 50-to-1 manager ratio may sound lean, but the math exposes a brutal reality: one person cannot meaningfully lead, coach, prioritize, and retain fifty people.

Mark Murphy

Five Ways Cutting Managers Quietly Wrecks a Company

May 24, 2026

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4 min read

Five Ways Cutting Managers Quietly Wrecks a Company

The business case for flattening sounds clean. The aftermath is usually messier: shadow managers, stalled careers, lost knowledge, and people quietly heading for the exits.

Mark Murphy

17 Phrases Companies Use Before They Flatten Middle Management

May 24, 2026

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5 min read

17 Phrases Companies Use Before They Flatten Middle Management

Before companies flatten middle management, they usually start speaking in code. These are the phrases that should make managers pay attention.

Mark Murphy