The Great Flattening and the Rise of the Supermanager: How AI Helps Leaders Scale Without Burnout

The Great Flattening is reshaping the workplace. Companies are removing layers of middle management, leaving fewer managers in charge of much larger teams. These leaders are now called supermanagers—and they’re not just bosses with more direct reports. They are leaders who scale their impact without burning out themselves or their teams.

According to Jennifer Dulski, CEO of Rising Team, a supermanager is “a leader who can scale their impact without burning out themselves or their team.” Thanks to AI, this new kind of leadership is possible for more managers than ever before. But to succeed, companies must support these leaders with the right tools and strategies.

What Is a Supermanager?

A supermanager is a leader who oversees 15 to 20 or more direct reports. They were once mid-level managers with smaller teams. After restructuring, they now lead bigger groups—and need new skills to do it well.

Dulski explains: “With a handful of direct reports, you can rely heavily on instinct and relationships. At 15-20, you need systems, and you need to understand each person's individual needs well enough to actually act on them at scale.”

Two Key Traits of a Supermanager

• Personalized leadership at scale: They know each team member’s unique talents and preferences. AI helps them remember and apply these insights without extra work.
• Smart use of AI tools: They use AI coaches and agents to automate tasks like 1-on-1 agendas, status updates, and performance reviews. This frees time for strategy and team development.

Essential Skills for Supermanagers

Being a supermanager isn’t just about AI. Soft skills—like empathy, delegation, and collaboration—are just as important. Dulski calls these “professional skills.”

“The best leaders I've observed share one defining quality: they can be strong at both clarity and compassion simultaneously,” she says. “Clarity without compassion feels cold. Compassion without clarity leaves teams without direction. Supermanagers combine both, and AI helps them practice that balance before high-stakes moments.”

Three Non-Negotiable Soft Skills

• Empathy: Put yourself in others’ shoes to understand their needs.
• Delegation: Distribute work confidently without micromanaging.
• Collaboration: Create an environment where people can execute without you in every meeting.

Why AI Is Essential for Supermanagement

Without AI, managing a large team is nearly impossible. Dulski warns: “People who try to manage large teams with human effort alone risk both personal burnout and major drops in team engagement and performance.”

AI acts as a “practice partner, drafting tool, and perfect 24/7 memory.” It handles administrative work so managers can focus on human tasks like coaching, decision-making, and building trust.

“The manager is still the coach, the unblocker, the decision-maker, and the human being their team needs to listen and support them,” Dulski adds.

How Companies Can Support Supermanagers

Organizations that flatten their workforce need a clear plan to help supermanagers succeed. Dulski offers four steps:

• Give permission to learn: Allow managers time to experiment with AI. Create channels to share what works and what doesn’t.
• Provide personalized support: Just like a fitness trainer, AI can offer each manager a tailored plan to build their leadership skills.
• Integrate AI with existing tools: Use platforms like Slack, Teams, and calendars so habits stick and results show.
• Plan for future leaders: Identify strong individual contributors on a leadership path. Give them what they need to become supermanagers early.

Is Supermanagement a Positive Trend?

Dulski is optimistic, but cautious. “Companies that give managers larger teams without support are going to feel it in their team performance and retention,” she says.

For supermanagers to thrive, companies must be intentional. AI is a powerful tool, but it cannot replace the human touch. “There’s work only a human can do: building trust, reading the room, making judgment calls, and setting strategy,” Dulski explains.

“Leaders can’t outsource building trust, and they shouldn’t try.”

In the end, the supermanager era isn’t about machines replacing humans. It’s about humans using machines to become better leaders—so they can focus on what truly matters: their people.