Exactly. Many senior-level people probably do want to write code, create things, and do that "shovel to dirt" work, but their company's performance review process discourages it. So, instead they have to fill their days with all that cross team impact, leadership, architecture, complexity, and process improvement stuff. Everywhere I've worked, "shovel to dirt" work is seen as what's done by the lowest rung on the totem pole. This mentality is all over industry. If you want to get promoted, you need to "create organizational transformation and synergistic thought leadership" instead.