Shopify - You Will Be Able to Be a "Crafter," Rise in the Organization Without Having to Become a "Manager"

The reality in business for employees is that hands-on work doesn't get you far, not in compensation, not in title, not in power, not in status. The software developer, the speechwriter, the accountant - all have to stop doing what they do best and take the leap into management. That is, if they want to “get ahead.”

That model could be changing. At Spotify, reports Yahoo Finance, they are disrupting traditional career paths. They want to facilitate the "crafters" to be able to move into the senior ranks, with all those goodies, without having to take on the official role of manager. 

Actually, the labor market might soon demand that shift. Meta, for example, is flattening organizational layers. There will be fewer managers and more crafters. Of course, incorporating generative AI into operations could accelerate that. One editor putting in prompts to ChatGPT and modifying the content for specific uses could be all that is needed. Gone could be most of those layers above.  

Decades ago CEOs Jack Welch at GE and Lee Iacocca at Chrysler also gutted much of middle management. However, as often happens. the bloat in the middle built up again. 

What is interesting to reflect on is that current chair of elite law firm Paul Weiss Brad Karp shared in an Insider interview that he no longer participates in being a hands-on litigator. His practice of law is restricted to arbitration behind closed doors. What that is saying could be this: It is difficult, maybe impossible, to be both an effective manager/leader and a crafter. In 2022, a challenging year for many law firms, Paul Weiss, headed by Karp, came out in the top 5 in  Profits Per Equity Partner - $6,162 million.

Meanwhile we recall that the tragic suicide at law firm Sidley Austin of Gabe MacConaill could have been related to the demand the he simultaneously handle a major bankruptcy and do internal managerial tasks. His widow Joanna Litt discusses in Law.com how she perceives he was pulled in too many directions for must-dos in his job. And without the resources he probably needed.

Hopefully, Shopify is kicking off the unbundling of crafting and managing. As the Yahoo Finance article points out, Steve Jobs, no people person, was lousy at managing. Actually, he had been fired for that. When he boomeranged back it was primarily as the strategic innovator he was. 

Full Disclosure: At the end of the 1980s I left the corporation where I had been pushed into management to open my own boutique. There I could just do what I had done so well in my career, without the formal responsibility of developing and evaluating employees. When I needed help, I recruited just-in-time contractors.

2023. It’s the year of AI, along with uncertainty, inflation, war and more. Jane Genova provides you with a complimentary check-in for your organization’s communications and your own career. It’s free. Content-creation and coaching provided on a sliding-scale fee basis. (for appointments text 203-468-8570 or janegenova374@gmail.com)