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Earlier this year, financial technology company Block laid off 4,000 employees\u2014around half the company\u2019s workforce\u2014in its push to embrace AI. Based on a recent interview, it seems like CEO Jack Dorsey has some more major changes in store for the company. And if true . . . he\u2019ll have quite a few more performance reviews to fill out this year.<\/p>\n
In a recent episode of the Long Strange Trip<\/em> podcast<\/a>, Dorsey said he wants to cut middle management layers from five managers down to two or three this year. \u201cIn the most ideal case, you know, there is no layer,\u201d he said in the podcast episode. \u201cEveryone in the company reports to me, and that would be all 6,000 of the company. And that feels somewhat ridiculous when you consider the old structure, but when you consider that the majority of our work is going through this intelligence layer, it\u2019s a lot more manageable.\u201d<\/p>\n The thousands of proposed direct reports aside\u2014that would be a lot of one-on-one check-ins\u2014Dorsey describes a desire to \u201cnormalize down to just three [types of] roles.\u201d<\/p>\n First in Dorsey\u2019s envisioned replacement structure are the “Builders”\u2014those who work on the tools to build or operate the company. \u201cThey\u2019re augmented, because they have access to agents, so one person can potentially do the work or explore the breadth that it would take a team or 10 people to do in the past,\u201d he said. Then come the \u201cDirectly Responsible Individuals,\u201d or employees who can strategize and understand customer outcomes. The last role would be what Dorsey calls a \u201cPlayer-Coach\u201d\u2014basically what we consider managers today.\u00a0<\/p>\n He hopes all of these roles will one day be able to report directly to him.<\/p>\n Social media users were not exactly thrilled by Dorsey\u2019s proposal that artificial intelligence could outright replace middle managers.\u00a0<\/p>\n