If only

[Undertoad]

I had to learn that the people that worked for me were not as motivated, and in many cases not as intelligent as I.

Part of the job of manager is to motivate. Part of the job of manager is to develop one's people.

Now, very rarely is the manager given the tools or clearance to really do that, or even the example, which is why --

Not everything can be conveniently blamed on top management.

Yeah, not everything. The current tw figure is 85% of all problems can be traced to top management. I think that's a little understated.