Can an entrepreneurial personality succeed as a corporate middle manager?
I think that for a middle manager to survive that part of their career, they would have to have an entrepreneurial spirit. Because companies are starting to “right size” or create flatter organizations for both cost-savings and sleeker operations, middle managers are often a target. Their responsibilities can often be transferred in either direction on the corporate food chain. Regardless of whether the manager wishes to continue to move up or simply stay employed (or make themselves more employable should their job be cut), he or she needs to find ways to make themselves more valuable to the company. This could mean engaging in other projects outside of their job duties, developing new business, growing leaders, etc. One presenter at a local ASTD event told an anecdotal story of how the training department that he was a part of had to change the way they looked at their jobs when the majority of their “clients” (new employees going through the orientation process) were outsourced. The
