The above sentiment would, I suspect, be widely approved. Those approving it would include many who have never been middle managers: individual contributors, team managers, consultants, and some CIOs who have risen through the ranks with meteoric speed and have had only the briefest of exposure to the middle manager role.
As a management consultant I found that many of my colleagues felt particularly strongly about the “frozen middle”: those deemed unresponsive to new ideas – most of which originated from their boss or external consultants.
