37 Years Ago, Steve Jobs Said the Best Managers Never Actually Want to Be Managers. Science Says He Was Right

Steve Jobs famously said the best managers never actually want to be managers, preferring to stay high-impact individual contributors. In 1985 he hired a wave of "professional" managers for Apple, only to find they could manage but didn't know how to do the work themselves, leading to poor outcomes.

Modern research backs up Jobs' observation: managers who view management as a career track tend to underperform compared to those who remain deeply involved in the craft. These "contributor-first" leaders drive higher team performance, better decision-making, and stronger morale because they retain credibility and technical insight.

For technical leaders, the lesson is clear: prioritize hiring and promoting engineers who want to stay hands-on rather than forcing a separate manager class. This approach reduces hiring missteps, improves scaling, and keeps teams aligned with product goals, ultimately delivering more reliable outcomes.