Confusion reigns because elite-heads are filled with ideology and they lack perspective. Every stage of the promotion process for administrators winnows out and narrows the pool, resulting in blinkered views that are nearly identical and rigidly conform. The same process consistently functions to screen out data that is irrelevant to administrative tasks. As a craftsman scenario builder, Bryan, you were apparently shocked by the lack of breadth and scope, but the conversation accurately reflects the views (or LACK of views) of this particular "thought community". Some years ago, the results of cognitive stratification among peak corporate officers was studied. "It's Lovely at the Top" (2015) was the title, and it aptly sums up this problem. But now -- and for the same reasons -- uncertainty characterizes top administrators. The key, I think, is to look at this as the result of long-standing organizational and institutional dynamics. As Hannan and Friedman pointed out in their famous 1984 paper on structural inertia, the reasons for success continue on, regardless.