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When going up is staying still

7th February 2026, 1 minute to read

It’s often assumed that in the world of people managers people move up the org chart. It feels implicit. You become a manager of other managers, you’re going “up”! But often what actually happens is you’re staying still organisationally. You’re growing people below you — your teams become more specialised, often narrower. People who had been the rock-star ICs, expand to have a whole team to do the same work they used to do.