Episode 77: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work

Sue Bethanis, CEO of Mariposa Leadership, hosts Emily Field, co-author of Power to the Middle: Why Managers Hold the Keys to the Future of Work and a partner at McKinsey’s Seattle office. Emily partners with leaders to shape data-driven organizational strategies designed to achieve business objectives, establish talent management as a distinctive advantage, and secure the human resources function as a driver of business value.

Since joining McKinsey in 2017, Emily has worked with companies across industries, leading initiatives to transform the way organizations work. She puts particular emphasis on helping to establish a talent-first approach, instilling a high-performance culture, and adopting effective people-analytics approaches. Emily prepares leaders to manage the workforce of the future.

Passionate about helping others achieve their full potential, Emily volunteers as a mentor to veterans and low-income students through her work with Capital Partners for Education and American Corporate Partners. She holds a BA in government from Georgetown University.

Sue and Emily discuss: 

• Why organizations fail to see middle managers as their “most valuable players”
• How the Great Resignation, the pandemic, and the tech boom contributed to the obfuscation of middle managers’ importance
• What Hybrid work has done to middle managers
• How managers can “rebundle” jobs instead of eliminating them in the current age of AI and fears of job displacement