And who is the idiot? It was really interesting until it became extremely general and vague. It almost makes it sound like Matt Cutts is the idiot since he's the only specific manager mentioned.
She kind of talks about it in the last paragraph. I don't think she was talking about someone specifically (although she may have somebody in mind) but in general.
"Eventually you end up spending all your time trying to look busy, avoid responsibility and save face by scapegoating others. "
"The end result of this is that it often feels like everyone at the top is maliciously incompetent."
This, according to her, is how you end up with an idiot running an engineering org.
Short summary: Woznaik vs Jobs. The technical guy vs. the smooth talker.
Longer summary:
Some people are perpetual resume builders. They want quick promotion, bigger job titles, higher salary...
The ladder growth is their reward. And they'll avoid anything that jeopardizes their career path. They'll grab the glory for good stuff and push the blame for bad stuff.
The hacker, risk taker on the other hand does not optimize for career growth. Does difficult, critical stuff often without knowing that what they've accomplished is actually a big deal.
Even when know they've accomplished something big, they won't toot their own horns. They do it for the 'love of the game.'
I can't imagine Jobs as someone motivated put his head down and do busywork to collect a brass nameplate with a fancy title after twenty years.
No.[1]
Woz gave away much of his stock in Apple, more than half of it before Apple even went public.
[1] https://www.celebritynetworth.com/richest-businessmen/steve-...