Those given the greatest authority in the firm turn out to be the most powerless to effect positive change in the production process. The actual means by which decisions get made in the firm are a rats' nest of bypasses often held up by the force of will in singular individuals.

Many of these individuals (such as staff engineers) also have a crisis of meaningness when and if they realize their vast skills are essentially wasted being a glorified "glue stick" holding together a system which is perverse, and for no real purpose.

https://hbr.org/2019/12/can-you-know-too-much-about-your-organization
If you looked closely, would you see a deliberate strategy or the results of years and years of patches, workarounds, political truces, and shadow systems? They came to see peripheral roles, in which they stood apart from the complex system that required redesign, as a place from which they could add more fundamental and long-term value to the organization.

'Schlep Blindness'
http://paulgraham.com/schlep.html
A company is defined by the schleps it will undertake.

'Chesterton's fence' is the principle that reforms should not be made until the reasoning behind the existing state of affairs is understood.

“Don’t find customers for your product. Find products for your customers.”
— Seth Godin
In this short essay, I’ll be walking you through a method, pioneered by Amy Hoy and Alex Hillman, for making sure that you’re building products that real people want. You’ll learn how to find customers, analyze their pains, write a pitch using their language and create a feedback loop to keep you in lockstep. Each section will be accompanied by a case study where we’ll explore how I’ve used these methods to create Extra, my new social media automation app.

The world is crowded with startups and almost all of them searching for a financial infusion from outside investors. It takes much more than a great idea and an impeccable work ethic to separate yourself from the pack and attract serious investors. You will likely only get one shot at your pitch and it is important that capitalize on that opportunity to maximize the chances that your startup will get the funding you need to get your company off the ground.