Pharma Veterans

Widening Chasm Between Senior and Middle Management– Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1133 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post 1133 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Credit: cottonbro studio Credit: PNW Production Preamble In modern organizations, middle managers are the glue that holds together strategy, execution, people, and process. Yet increasingly, they are feeling disconnected from the very leaders they report to—senior executives. My last blog post was on this subject. This widening gap—often referred to as the “leadership chasm”—has created frustration, disengagement, and even organizational dysfunction. Middle managers feel overlooked, unsupported, and under pressure, while senior management often perceives them as resistant to change, lacking vision, or slow to execute strategy. Why is this...

The Middle Management is Squeezed and Struggling – Why and What Should be Done – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1132 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #1132 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to pharmaveterans2017@gmail.com  for publishing your contributions here. Credit: cottonbro studio Credit: Mikhail Nilov Preamble In the corporate hierarchy, middle managers have traditionally been the bridge between strategy and execution, vision and action, senior leaders and frontline teams. They are the interpreters, implementers, buffers, and stabilizers. But today, middle managers find themselves in an uncomfortable, often unsustainable position. With mounting responsibilities, increasing ambiguity, and little recognition, they are the most squeezed layer in modern organizations—and many are burning out.  What’s changed in the role of middle managers? Why the pressure is...

Evolving Role of Middle Managers – More Coaching – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #998 Dear Colleagues! This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #998 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans Blogs are published by Asrar Qureshi on its dedicated site https://pharmaveterans.com. Please email to aq.pharmaveterans@gmail.com for publishing your contributions here. Credit: Annushka Ahuja Credit: Antoni Shkraba Credit: Kampus Production This blogpost is inspired by HBS Working Knowledge article by Ben Rand, which is based on research by Letian Zhang, Assistant Professor of Business Administration. Most content is my own. Link to the article at the end. Hierarchies have become inflated and multilayered, and it has become difficult to identify if someone is a senior manager or a middle manager. When I joined pharma industry, the line management was a two-tier structure. There were the first line managers, and the national managers. The regional managers had different titles, district manager, zonal manager, re...

Middle Managers are being Wasted – Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #807 Dear Colleagues!  This is Asrar Qureshi’s Blog Post #807 for Pharma Veterans. Pharma Veterans welcome sharing of knowledge and wisdom by Veterans for the benefit of Community at large. Pharma Veterans Blog is published by Asrar Qureshi on  WordPress, the top blog site. Please email to asrar@asrarqureshi.com for publishing your contributions here. Photo Credit: Christina Morillo Photo Credit: Ivan Samkov Photo Credit: Rebrand Cities Major portion of this post is based on McKinsey survey report. (link at the end) McKinsey published the findings of a global survey about Middle Managers in March 2023. It is quite a revealing report. It starts with these lines. [quote] Middle Management is a vital yet beleaguered role within organizations. Managers face pressures from above and below, they tend to be both underdeveloped and unempowered, they face growing pressure to deliver in flatter, faster, and leaner organization...