Mailbag: Your Manager Is Drowning. Here's How to Use That.
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In This Issue:
A pharma PM writes in about a manager relationship that’s deteriorating
Why middle managers are the most stressed people in your company right now
A few moves that turn a strained manager relationship into leverage
How to take work off their plate without overstepping
When managing up stops working and what that tells you
This week’s mailbag comes from a Product Manager at a large pharma company in New Jersey. I’m paraphrasing to protect the guilty:
“RR, I’ve been at my company about two years. My manager and I used to have a decent relationship, but over the last six months it’s fallen apart. She’s short with me, cancels our 1:1s constantly, and micromanages some things while completely ignoring others. I get almost no feedback except when something goes wrong. I like the actual work and the company, but I dread interacting with her. Do I start looking, or is there a way to fix this?”
Let’s call her manager Karen, because of course.
Before I give you the playbook, I need to reframe what’s happening. Right now you’re reading her behavior as a verdict on you. I’d bet money the real story is her situation, and once you see it, the whole thing gets a lot less personal and a lot more solvable.
What your manager is actually dealing with
I recruit for large financial services and pharma clients. I sit in on the calls where headcount decisions get made. Here’s what’s happening to middle managers in 2026, and it’s brutal.
