Success Quote by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

The line lands like a memo disguised as a warning: the age of the boss as monarch is over, not because people suddenly got nicer, but because the system that tolerated it has been rewired. Kanter isn’t making a moral plea for kindness; she’s making a market claim. Autocracy was once “functional” when information moved slowly, jobs were stickier, and employees had fewer alternatives or less leverage. In that world, a commanding personality could substitute for process, and fear could pass for coordination.

The subtext is that power has migrated. Knowledge workers carry critical context in their heads, not in the org chart, and that makes compliance a weaker currency than commitment. Add transparent employer ratings, Slack-era lateral networks, and a labor market where talent can exit faster than management can spin the story, and the old model stops being merely cruel and becomes inefficient. Autocracy still produces action; it just produces it expensively: higher churn, quieter sabotage, risk-averse decision-making, and the kind of “yes” that kills innovation.

Kanter’s phrasing matters. “Used to be able to function” grants the past its logic, then withdraws the permission. It’s a strategic move aimed at executives who respect results more than righteousness. “We don’t live in that world anymore” expands responsibility outward: this isn’t about one bad boss; it’s about a changed ecosystem. The sentence is a small act of cultural reclassification, turning domineering leadership from “tough” into “obsolete.”