Child has ego → wants to be important → demonstrates a certain talent → identifies a dominance hierarchy predicated on that talent → consumes the mythology of the intrinsic importance of that dominance hierarchy, storied by generations of those who climbed it → spend your life climbing to the top of that dominance hierarchy.
For me it is: child has fun, wants to continue to have fun → realizes he has the most fun making things with people he loves → realizes society won't let him do what he wants to do unless he checks arbitrary boxes → spends time having fun making things instead of checking boxes → spend life trying to find a comfortable place to have fun making things and enjoying family.
The author may deny my internal motivations and assume I'm self-deluded all they want, but I am quite convinced that I know myself far better than them. I'm interested in having done things I find meaningful, not being someone of importance, and the actions of my life back up that assertion.
This article is an overly simplistic view of the world and human motivations. You get to choose if this is how you live your life, and you really can choose purpose and values other than ego. Ego and greed may be the norm for modern culture, and may be the typical way that the corporate world operates, but it is certainly not the only way. It's almost narcissistic how much it assumes that everyone else's motivations are exactly like the author's.