[anticorporate]

This has been my experience as well.

It doesn't matter how many presentations and case studies and financial models you build, whether you're a cost center or not is basically entirely determined by what a few people in the c-suite believe. This became blatantly clear over the past year or so of layoffs, when the same people who nodded and thanked teams for showing them how they generate revenue for the business immediately turned around and put them on the chopping block.