The most at-risk job these days is the one that’s just managing other people.
Managers got a stark reminder of how close they are to the endangered species list on Tuesday. Coinbase announced it’s cutting 14% of its staff, roughly 700 employees, and singled out managers.
CEO Brian Armstrong’s letter to staff had lots of the tell-tale signs of a 2026 layoff announcement: AI, tiny teams, and adapting to a volatile market. (Next time, just use my Mad Libs for AI-driven layoffs.)
Particularly noticeable in Armstrong’s vision for Coinbase was the lack of managers. The concept of a “pure manager” will no longer exist at the crypto giant, he said.
“Every leader at Coinbase must also be a strong and active individual contributor. Managers should be like player-coaches, getting their hands dirty alongside their teams,” Armstrong said in an email sent to staff.
BI’s Sarah E. Needleman and Ana Altchek broke down the great manager massacre taking place in tech.
The push for player-coaches feels like switch pitchers in baseball: good in theory; difficult in reality.
An ambidextrous pitcher is valuable because they can get favorable matchups against both left- and right-handed batters. But MLB has had fewer than 10 switch pitchers in its history. Pat Venditte — the only one in the modern era — topped out as a middle reliever over five seasons.
(Yes, switch hitters are more common, but they’re still pretty unique. And their numbers are dwindling.)
Why would something so valuable be so rare? Because it’s REALLY hard to be an exceptional pitcher with both arms. What you gain in flexibility, you lose in specialization.
Which gets us back to player-coaches. I understand why Armstrong or Block’s Jack Dorsey want everyone to be individual contributors. It’s a lot more efficient to have everyone putting points on the board.
But you’re likely going to sacrifice a bit of performance to get there. A switch pitcher’s fastball isn’t quite as good as if they just focused on one arm. That rings true for a player-coach trying to hit their own goals while helping others reach theirs.
AI could be the secret sauce that enables player-coaches to finally reach their full potential on both sides. The tech is proving useful at automating tasks and supercharging workers.
But it also comes with plenty of challenges around adoption. And who’s stuck figuring it out? The same middle managers companies seem eager to get rid of.
What do you think? Should managers be able just to manage or do they need to take on other work? Let us know in our survey.
