In a world in which knowledge-worker companies are multiplying,
this is an especially crucial passage. Today's twenty-two-year old
individual contributor is tomorrow’s CEO. She no longer has to
wait thirty years to ascend to the top spot; she may be ready in
five or ten years. Plus, first-time managers in knowledge-worker
companies have a tremendous impact on productivity (in terms of
cost efficiency and revenue growth). If they're acting like individual
contributors, their impact will be reduced. For these reasons
alone, organizations must do more than just give lip service to the
importance of this passage.