---
id: "quote-next-generation-leaders"
type: "quote"
source_timestamps: ["§ AI Is Squeezing Middle Managers"]
tags: ["leadership-development", "long-term-risk"]
related: ["open-question-leadership-pipeline", "claim-ai-burdens-middle-managers"]
speaker: "Julia Shin and Sandra J. Sucher"
speakers: ["Julia Shin", "Sandra J. Sucher"]
quote: "If managers are spending more time validating AI outputs and fighting fires, who is developing the next generation of leaders?"
sources: ["reskilling"]
sourceVaultSlug: "hbr-seg-reskilling"
originDay: 10
articleStem: "hbr-sig-49-ai-squeezing-middle-managers"
sourceUrl: "https://hbr.org/2026/06/ai-is-squeezing-middle-managers"
sourceTitle: "AI Is Squeezing Middle Managers"
---
# Who Is Developing the Next Generation of Leaders?

> "If managers are spending more time validating AI outputs and fighting fires, who is developing the next generation of leaders?"
> — [[entity-julia-shin|Julia Shin]] & [[entity-sandra-j-sucher|Sandra J. Sucher]]

**Context.** A critical question posed by Shin and Sucher regarding the long-term systemic risk of turning middle managers into AI quality-control bots. It is the seed of [[open-question-leadership-pipeline]] and reinforces [[claim-ai-burdens-middle-managers]].

Related: [[open-question-leadership-pipeline]] · [[claim-ai-burdens-middle-managers]]