Jan 30, 202622 mins

EP2Do we still need managers? Rethinking the role in an AI office

Picture a team where software books the meetings, chases the updates and assigns the next task. Jonah Webb, a founding partner at Lightline who writes about technology and management, joins hosts Dr. Nora Castell of the Acme Work Lab and Dr. Felix Brandt of Northwind University to ask what a manager is still for. They dig into the invisible parts of the job no org chart captures, the reporting chores agents can absorb, and why coaching people matters more than routing work. A candid look at management once coordination is automated.

In this conversation

Much of a manager's work never shows up on an org chart.
AI takes over reporting, not judgment.
Managers who coach outperform managers who route.

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youtube.com/@acmeworklab

Find the hosts and guests

Dr. Nora Castell: linkedin.com/in/nora-castell
Dr. Felix Brandt: linkedin.com/in/felix-brandt
Jonah Webb: linkedin.com/in/jonah-webb

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Episode timeline

00:00 – Introductions
03:10 – What managers actually do
10:40 – What AI takes over
17:30 – Coaching versus routing

More research from the Acme Work Lab

Your hosts

Dr. Nora Castell
Head of the Acme Work Lab

Dr. Castell leads research at the Acme Work Lab, where she studies how AI is changing the way people and teams work.

Dr. Felix Brandt
Professor Emeritus at Northwind University

Dr. Brandt is a workplace researcher and author whose books cover meetings, incentives, team design and how companies absorb new tools.

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Read new work from the Acme Work Lab

The Acme Work Lab is an independent research team guided by scholars and operators who study how jobs are shifting. We turn field studies into checklists, templates and plain guidance that managers can try with their teams this quarter.