Power to the Middle

ABOUT THE AUTHORS

BILL SCHANINGER grew up in a working-class family in Allentown, Pennsylvania, where his father was a printer and his mother was a bookkeeper. While in college he was a bouncer, which taught him how to change people’s behavior quickly. He learned the same skill when, while still in school, he supervised a residential treatment unit for juvenile offenders. This was a middle management job, and he soon discovered how difficult it was to straddle the line of advancing his employer’s agenda while also advocating for his team.

Bill came to understand that as a middle manager he had huge responsibilities without a great deal of control, and that he was frequently forced to sell an idea that wouldn’t have been his own choice. He ...