Yes, a lot of this kind of "everyone is replaceable" 4D chess mentality of management leads to a fat middle. I've seen this both at large, stodgy organizations

Yes, a lot of this kind of "everyone is replaceable" 4D chess mentality of management leads to a fat middle. I've seen this both at large, stodgy organizations that have frequent layoffs and at smaller organizations with Frank Underwood CTOs. Bottom performers get managed out on the firms schedule, but top performers find their way out on their own schedule. This can lead to great chaos.. people getting un-fired, throwing money at the key man risks you accidentally created, and over-correcting with too-fast over-hiring which then leads to inevitable future firings.