How to be a leader when the vibes are off

Moral vs pragmatic leadership

• Many see the article’s advice (“support policies in public, empathize in private”) as survival tactics for middle managers, not real leadership.
• Critics call this hypocrisy: if you won’t publicly oppose harmful decisions, your private sympathy is manipulative and demoralizing.
• Defenders argue “picking your battles” is necessary; openly defying executives often just gets you replaced by someone worse, helping no one.
• There’s disagreement on whether aligning with leadership you think is wrong is a loss of integrity or just part of the job.

Power, risk, and “revolution”

• Some commenters want guidance on resisting or “starting a revolution” when things are unjust, not on how to keep your job.
• Others respond that in large organizations with bad leadership, employees have effectively no leverage; dramatic stands often only harm individuals and their teams.
• A recurring theme: everyone up the chain claims to be “just following orders,” which diffuses responsibility and enables harmful behavior.

Role of middle management as buffer

• Several people describe the classic function of line managers as a shock absorber between executive delusion and ground reality.
• Good managers are portrayed as:
  • Quietly relaxing harmful rules (e.g., RTO quotas) where possible.
  • Being honest with their teams about trade‑offs without poisoning them against the company.
  • Pushing back privately and escalating risks in terms of customer or business impact.
• Others note that if a manager cannot sincerely stand behind the company’s direction, the ethical move may be to leave.

RTO, trust, and global labor markets

• RTO mandates are widely framed as a breach of trust after successful remote work, sometimes transparently tied to office or parking revenue.
• Some argue anti‑remote policies can protect domestic workers from global wage competition; others note pre‑existing offshoring and see RTO mainly benefiting landlords.

AI, “efficiency era,” and economic context

• Commenters link harsher policies to post‑ZIRP capital constraints, not just AI.
• There’s anxiety that AI will be used to cut staff and erode dignity, with middle managers tasked with calming people about changes that may genuinely threaten their jobs.

Burnout and psychological cost

• Multiple managers say following this “buffer” playbook helped their teams but burned them out severely, especially when expectations rose without real empowerment.
• Burnout is described as the accumulation of many small disappointments and a sense of learned helplessness.

Organizing, ethics, and alternatives

• Some advocate unions, professional associations, or worker co‑ops as the only realistic counter‑power.
• Others emphasize personal lines: you must push back loudly when decisions endanger lives or cross clear ethical boundaries, even at risk of being fired.