Natural intelligence on the ropes: Why India’s middle managers are becoming obsolete

Block, the digital payment company co-founded by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, laid off nearly 4,000 employees, or almost 40% of its workforce, at once on February 26. Just over a month later, on March 31, Block chairman Dorsey and Sequoia Capital partner Roelof Botha, who is a board member of the payments company, published a manifesto titled ‘From Hierarchy to Intelligence’. The meandering circular traces how middle management emerged “before the term was coined.” He begins by examining how the Romans organized their troops, realizing that “one leader could effectively lead three to eight men” over centuries of warfare, and how the Prussian army was reformed after its defeat by Napoleon during the Battle of Jena in 1806.