[webmaven]

There is an alternate measure, less commonly found but certainly existing in the mainstream: Rather than how many people are below you, how few people are there above you (in a large organization).

By that measure, the senior developer on a 'special projects' team reporting directly to a CxO could be quite high status. Similarly, the US National Security Advisor only has a small staff reporting to them, but their influence on US policy is as great or greater than the Secretary of Defense and/or Secretary of State.