This is completely opposite of my experience in the industry.

Stephen Sinofsky is famous for sending people bug reports with the line of code that was causing the windows bug. My presentations to Harry Shum were the highlights of my time in Bing, as he was both interested and insightful. My conversation with Satya Nadella about incentives and alignment of the OSD organization taught me a lot about how the businesses operated.

I've met and worked with vice presidents in Microsoft, Google, and Facebook and every time I been impressed with their levels of interest, insight, and passion for the product.

There may have been a time with being a vice-president was a parking title and reward for a lifetime of work, but that time has passed.