The Invisible Pressure on Middle Managers

Somewhere right now, a middle manager is staring at their laptop at 9 PM, juggling an inbox full of urgent requests from senior leadership while mentally preparing for tomorrow's tough conversation with a struggling team member. Their to-do list grew by twelve items today. They crossed off four. And they just received word that their peer in the next department was laid off last week, which means those responsibilities will likely land on their desk too.

This isn't a bad week. This is every week.