However, we can reach plateaus of insight. Certain individuals have extraordinary skills at getting people to have those sorts of insights. Of course, systems differ with respect to how much tolerance from error they have in their component parts. You might think that in a symphony orchestra there's room for a little sloppiness that the person in the back row can be slightly out of tune and no one will notice. But if the orchestra is ever going to give a genuinely exceptional performance, everybody will have to be at his or her best.
Life is both hierarchical and equal.
Both are perspectives that have the same validity, and they are commensurable. The simplest and most direct way to transcend the hierarchical value system is for people to see for themselves that they do matter. Once people experience genuine alignment, they will not settle for being meaningless cogs. Different companies work at this in different ways, but it comes down primarily to telling the truth rather than blindly accepting traditional values. It is true that in many ways the contribution of the chief engineer is more valued, but that person who screws in the bolt has to do his or her job right or the whole system can fall apart.