The future of small and medium-sized enterprises is marked by new challenges in the area of management of production, innovation, and access to financial resources – sectors in which SMEs encounter difficulties that can be significant. It will be central for these businesses and their managers to find adequate solutions for the digitalization of processes and the adoption of lean manufacturing, and also to explore non-strictly traditional channels for access to credit (private debt, venture debt, and minibonds). SMEs should seize in various ways the opportunities provided by the latest frontiers of strategic innovation, in particular in the circular economy – recyclability of materials, renewability of energy sources, sustainability of processes – and by artificial intelligence, widely considered a strategic factor – predicting demand, optimizing processes, and digitalizing operations. To face the new normal, a key role in the managerial work of SMEs will be performed by those whose skills go beyond merely technical abilities, meaning cognitive and relational skills. What emerges is an archetype of a many-sided and multifaceted manager, able to do their own work, but also to manage a complex network of relations and face tasks in a flexible and proactive manner.