MIDDLE MANAGERS ARE BACK?!

Middle managers were supposed to be one of the layers companies could do without. Organizations flattened their org charts, invested heavily in AI, and removed roles in the name of efficiency. Now the question is whether they also removed the people who help teams think, learn, and work effectively. Abhijit Bhaduri joins Aaron Wolpoff and Melissa Eaton to unpack the management reset happening in an AI-enabled workplace. Drawing on his experience in talent management and global learning and development, he explains why efficiency and effectiveness are not the same, how repeated restructures erode trust, and why employees need enough security to learn new skills. The conversation explores the future of middle management, the entry-level talent pipeline, the human cost of treating employees as interchangeable line items, and why AI needs thoughtful human escalation when systems fail. The answer is not to stop using AI. It is to redesign work so technology and people can make each other more effective.