[zbentley]

So can I. But I don't think I'd call those environments/teams high-functioning.

This is roughly the same reason that LoC or features delivered/day are bullshit metrics. They can be skewed by a tiny minority of people doing most of the work. When that is the case, you don't have a high-functioning team or organization; you have a few massive liabilities tipping the scales.

Edit: what I mean is that experienced folks in those environments are "doomed" in a different way than novices. Novices won't gain new skills. Experienced folks will instead feel unappreciated and burn out, or feel over-appreciated and succumb to narcissism. Both outcomes happen at the expense of the team.