by Alexandra SEREDIUC

For many years, Romania’s software industry lived under the spell of continuous growth. Teams expanded, budgets grew, benefits flowed, and the market was generous enough that almost any project or idea seemed possible. Managers led in a context of abundance, where the focus was on retention, engagement, wellbeing, on generally offering more.

Today, the reality is different.

In an economy that has shifted from growth to performance, managers have found themselves in a new paradigm. Budgets have been drastically reduced. Benefits have thinned out. Salary increases and team expansions are rare. AI promises efficiency but brings anxiety. Company cultures are increasingly profit-oriented, and the word “performance” is heard more often than “development.”

Beyond the numbers, spreadsheets, and KPIs, this shift triggers deep psychological processes among managers: some visible, others silent, but all profoundly real.

Many managers are, without realizing it, going through a process of grief, a loss of meaning and professional identity.

If before their role was to inspire, to grow people, to build strong teams, now they are asked to cut costs, optimize, and justify every decision.

In place of gratitude, they often face distrust. In place of team enthusiasm, they encounter anxiety and cynicism.

This transition is not only economic – it’s emotional. Managers are losing a way of leading that gave them purpose, belonging, and validation.

Layoffs, tough evaluations, hard messages delivered to people they’ve supported and developed all carry a heavy psychological cost.

Many managers quietly carry the guilt of decisions they execute, even if those decisions are not truly theirs.

“I’ve become the bad guy,” a manager told me recently in a coaching session.

It’s a quiet guilt, rarely spoken but deeply felt because deep down, many chose this profession out of a desire to grow people, not to cross names off a list.

AI and automation bring a subtle pressure: the fear of not being needed anymore.

“If algorithms can measure performance, if processes become more and more automated, what unique value do I still bring to the table?” many leaders ask themselves.

This fear fuels hyper-control, perfectionism, and burnout. Managers begin to believe they must constantly prove themselves, that only flawless efficiency will keep their place and sense of worth intact.

Some managers turn inward, toward their values, toward reinvention, toward redefining leadership beyond numbers.

Others get lost in the pressure, becoming rigid, cynical, or emotionally detached.

The difference often lies in self-awareness and psychological support, whether through coaching, therapy, or peer learning communities.

Paradoxically, at a time when efficiency is the priority, the need for humanity has never been greater.

Leaders who manage to stay connected with themselves, who acknowledge their vulnerability, who dare to talk about fear and meaning are the ones who become beacons of stability for their teams. And also for themselves.

It’s no longer just about results, but about keeping alive a way of being human among humans, even when the economic tide pulls the other way.

The transformation the IT industry is going through is not just a market shift.

It’s an identity shift for an entire generation of managers.

Those who will endure are not necessarily the most efficient ones, but those who can listen to their inner processes, accept the pain of change, and turn pressure into clarity.

Because beyond AI, budgets, and performance, leadership remains, at its core, an act of consciousness.