Comment on Why is leadership valued so much over expertise?
boob_warbler@fedinsfw.app 1 day ago2 things come to my mind
- Social pressure - There’s a need to be “seen”. Being a technical expert on ground doesn’t make you " seen”.
- Money - The higher you go, the more money you make.
atro_city@fedia.io 1 day ago
Ah yes, exposure 🤔 So maybe by making technical experts seen, it would normalise increasing their salary.
I'm questioning why this is the case ;)
boob_warbler@fedinsfw.app 1 day ago
Its just too many things packaged and loaded in that question. Haha
If you are a brilliant engineer, you might build an amazing feature. But if you are a director managing 5 teams of 8 engineers, your decisions affect the output of 40 people. Even a small 1% improvement in their efficiency multiplies across the whole group, resulting in massive financial impact.
If a VP makes a strategic mistake, an entire product line gets canceled, and 200 people lose their jobs. Higher pay is often a premium for taking on that personal and financial risk.
On the flip side, traditional corporate structure puts a cap on individual value. They operate like early 20th century assembly line, where a deeply technical engineer is seen no different than a blue collar drone.
As for the “being seen” situation, its not about being seen by your bosses. Its more about being seen by your family and friends. At least in certain cultures, “man of the house” is expected to weild power over others outside their house too. While some are OK being called potty as long as they’re paid forty, not everyone subscribes to it.