MIT Sloan Management Review Article on Leaders Don't Hide Behind Data

Managers have turned digital tools into a crutch. We need leaders who focus on human connection instead.

One hundred and thirty years ago, a jeweler named Willard Bundy changed the world of management: He invented the employee time clock. Then Frederick Taylor came along and took things to the next level. Taylor was the Madame Curie of industrial management. His breakthrough work on scientific management created a movement that persists to this day. The theory is simple: With a clipboard and a stopwatch, you can measure and improve the performance of your workforce. A revolution is happening. As the resolution of our insight has gotten ever sharper, the need for more management has rapidly decreased. The step after making a job an efficient program is to automate it and replace it with a computer that works for free.