For Dr. Nolan, it was important for him to stay with the technology, so he stayed on the technical track rather than jump onto the management track. We lead by technical innovation. We are committed to translating our expertise into goods and services, expanding the range of our scientific competence and linking our needs to the marketplace. You need to make money for the company. There is always feedback there if you want it.
Companies value physicists for their intelligence.
In the management ladder you may do a tremendous variety of jobs. Process development is figuring out how to manufacture a product, deciding the many parameters involved. If you have a good idea, you need to convince managment the area is fruitful. Then when you can identify a product, that's when the money comes in. Most projects don't succeed, in fact.