[Iftheshoefits]

I disagree. I think it is only very narrowly applicable, in particular to companies that are technology-centric (i.e. that have as a primary product something that is technology related, such as a software product), and even then it only applies to a fraction.

In most companies, technology-centered or not, the non-engineers have a large amount of power to "create and sustain" something far more important than code or systems: institutional political power. I don't care how good a programmer one is, in such organizations institutional politics almost always wins. The old addage, "It's not what you know but who", applies here, as in any other industry. Talent is only good to carry a person so far, within the confines of somebody else's business.