---
id: "quote-managers-buried"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ The AI Transition Requires Over-Investment–Especially in Middle Managers"]
tags: ["role-design", "support-structures"]
related: ["concept-role-elevation", "claim-managers-bypassed-elevation"]
speakers: ["Julia Shin", "Sandra J. Sucher"]
speaker: "Julia Shin and Sandra J. Sucher"
quote: "Without organizational support, managers don’t get elevated; they get buried."
sources: ["reskilling"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-reskilling"
originDay: 10
articleStem: "hbr-sig-50-adoption-overloading-managers"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/ai-adoption-is-overloading-your-middle-managers"
sourceTitle: "AI Adoption Is Overloading Your Middle Managers"
---
# Managers get buried, not elevated

> But managers did not experience role elevation. Their new responsibilities — the oversight, coaching, and quality-control demands of AI — have simply been layered onto their existing work. **Without organizational support, managers don't get elevated; they get buried.**

— [[entity-julia-shin|Julia Shin]] and [[entity-sandra-j-sucher|Sandra J. Sucher]]

The rhetorical hinge of the article: it names the asymmetry of [[concept-role-elevation-d50]], evidences [[claim-managers-bypassed-elevation]], and powers the contrarian reading [[contrarian-ai-buries-managers]]. 'Buried' pairs with 'drowning' from [[quote-workslop-d10]] as the article's controlling metaphor.