Software is, AFAIK, the only wildly demanding field where senior leaders who can’t even remotely do the thing is considered normal.
For what it's worth: just because you're the top dog in your field that doesn't mean you're a good manager.
We should actually insist on rolling out separate management and career tracks because either require completely different skillsets.
At my company, a Director and a Principal eng are same level, but Principal eng are people with industry renown. There are twice as many Directors than PENG, but you can keep climbing to SR Director, VP, SVP.
But actually there’s a ton of micromanagement in medicine too. It’s equally insane there though and transparently driven by profit motives over patient wellbeing.
only in the US, mon ami.