Manu's Vault

Three Managerial Superpowers

3 min readStatus:Seedling

Core Idea

Managers hold three asymmetric levers unavailable to individual contributors — information, time, and money — and a team’s effectiveness is determined almost entirely by how wisely or carelessly these superpowers are deployed.

What It Is

In Chapter 17 of Managing Humans - Lopp - 2019, Michael Lopp identifies three resources managers hold which individual contributors (ICs) do not: information, time, and money. Used wisely, they make the team faster and more aligned. Used carelessly, they erode trust and create dysfunction.

The Three Superpowers

1. Information

  • Managers receive organisational context ICs don’t: strategy discussions, upcoming changes, budget plans, competitive signals
  • Well used: proactively sharing relevant context; translating leadership intent into team-level meaning
  • Poorly used: hoarding information as status, or leaking sensitive information to signal insider access

2. Time

  • Managers control how the team’s time is allocated across projects, meetings, and operational work
  • Well used: blocking calendar time for focused work, prioritising ruthlessly
  • Poorly used: scheduling excessive reviews and standups that fragment flow

3. Money

  • Managers influence compensation, bonuses, budget for tooling, conferences, and headcount
  • Well used: advocating for fair compensation, funding tools that remove friction, rewarding exceptional contribution
  • Poorly used: allowing pay equity issues to fester, using budget as a political tool

Why ICs Don’t Have These

Individual contributors typically: receive filtered information from their manager, cannot protect their own time from external demands, and have no authority over compensation. This asymmetry is structural, not a reflection of capability — so the superpower responsibility lands entirely on the manager.

Risk of Misuse

  • Information asymmetry: Selective disclosure creates in-group/out-group dynamics; see also Manager-as-Communication-Hub
  • Time taxation: Excessive meeting load signals the manager values presence over output
  • Compensation politics: Allowing market drift generates hidden resentment and eventual attrition

Liz Wiseman’s research (2010) shows poor use of these levers reduces team output by up to 40%, while effective use can double team contribution.

Sources

  • Lopp, Michael (2019). Managing Humans: Biting and Humorous Tales of a Software Engineering Manager. 3rd ed. Apress. ISBN: 978-1-484-23712-4. Available: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-1-4842-2158-7

    • Chapter 17 “Three Superpowers”

  • Mintzberg, Henry (1973). The Nature of Managerial Work. Harper & Row.

    • Identified the Resource Allocator decisional role and Monitor/Disseminator informational roles

  • Wiseman, Liz and Greg McKeown (2010). Multipliers: How the Best Leaders Make Everyone Smarter. HarperBusiness. ISBN: 978-0-06-196439-6.

    • Multiplier managers extract 2× more from their teams; diminisher managers suppress team intelligence

  • Mintzberg, Henry (1979). The Structuring of Organizations. Prentice-Hall.

    • Formal authority over budget, time, and information differentiates managerial from specialist roles

  • Pfeffer, Jeffrey (1981). Power in Organizations. Pitman Publishing.

    • Managers derive organisational power through control of information, resources, and decision premises

Note

This content was drafted with assistance from AI tools for research, organization, and initial content generation. All final content has been reviewed, fact-checked, and edited by the author to ensure accuracy and alignment with the author’s intentions and perspective.

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