It means many things, but perhaps one way to put it is that ideas live on their own merit, rather than the rank of the person who proposed them. You also notic

It means many things, but perhaps one way to put it is that ideas live on their own merit, rather than the rank of the person who proposed them. You also notice it other ways: information (especially bad news) gets distorted as it tries to travel up a steep power gradient. In a steep power gradient, blame gets assigned downward and credit is claimed upward. Under a low power gradient, people share talk time in meetings more equally.