LOGOS IN THE NEWS: Helio Fred Garcia Quoted in Fast Company

On Wednesday, July 17, 2026, Logos President Helio Fred Garcia was quoted in a Fast Company article on the the dynamics of 'accidental managers,' those who are promoted into management positions with no formal training. The article highlights how management is more and more becoming understood as a skill set, rather than a destination. As a result, when those untrained or unskilled in management are suddenly placed in managerial roles, there are often tangible, negative consequences for teams and organizations.

In the article, Garcia offers observations on the challenges accidental managers face:

Helio Fred Garcia, author and management and ethics professor at Columbia University and New York University, points to the “Peter Principle,” named for co-creator Laurence J. Peter, a theory that states employees are continually promoted based on their previous work and reach a point where they are “incompetent” in their newest position.

“Some people will rise to the occasion and succeed; even thrive. Some will not. Doing well on tasks is not the same as getting other people to do what they are supposed to do,” says Garcia. “They don’t know enough about what good management is to know that they’re not good at it.” 

Garcia references the Dunning-Kruger effect, which describes a “cognitive bias” that people think they have greater expertise than they do. Social psychologists David Dunning and Justin Kruger coined the idea in a 1999 joint paper.

In thinking about what to do if an employee's boss in one of these accidental managers, Garcia shares the following advice: "Coach the new boss to become better at being a manager. Show the boss how to manage you.”

He also offers a way for organizations to think about the challenge of accidental managers:

The burden of accidental managers shouldn’t fall on employees alone. Far too often, taking on a management role is the only way to get promoted, with employees thrown into the deep end with little to go off. Part of the problem comes from companies ignoring the skills needed to be a good manager. 

“It is a distinct skill and requires both temperament and technical skill. It is a mistake to assume that everyone naturally can be a good manager because they’re a good performer,” says Garcia. In contrast, he points to companies that offer their early career employees an opportunity to do manager training programs. This setup allows people to learn necessary management tools, while also seeing if that’s where their interests and skillset lie....

Then there’s the problem with a solely managerial ladder. The experts point to how necessary multiple tracks are within a company. These splits can allow some people to become managers, while others take a path that focuses on their skills. Garcia notes that this is often the case for many technically-trained employees, such as scientists, doctors, and lawyers, but such clear distinctions can operate outside these professions. 

Read the full article here.