This tends to be the most anonymous of leadership positions, and the more anonymous a position is, the more self-management tools are required. A disturbing number of managers of managers suffer from an identity crisis: they’re not quite sure what their responsibilities are and how to meet them. The Pipeline model makes it clear that managers of managers should value teaching and coaching first-line managers—that as developers of talent, they hold the strength of the pipeline in their hands. They’re the ones who must help individual contributors adjust to their first managerial job, and they must make sure that these neophyte managers value being managers.

The manager of managers的定义基本上是管manager的manager，有点上不着村(高层)，下不着店(Individual contributor)的意思。这个层级基本包含了Senior manager (M2), Director (D1)。这个层级的经理需要理解whole picuture (including business context, company long-term and short-term priority and strategy etc), 将他们映射到自己管理范围内的策略，因此也需要非常了解部门内的情况。我的理解是如果把一个公司比喻成一棵树，那CEO(以及CXO)是树根，是连接外部环境和内部环境的交互接口，提供生长的方向和营养；SVP/VP/Senior Director是主干支持各个不同的功能比如构建筛管导管，形成树皮保护自身，分泌激素等等，这个层级主要是把抽象的生长意向转化为每个大区功能的蓝图；到了Director，Senior Manager是分叉的交叉位置，支持小树枝(first-line manager)和树叶(IC)的工作，同时又要顾及到本功能区块的策略以及兼顾到整体树的健康发展比如有些部门就是需要被削减或者叫停。