I worked for a large telco that operates very, very similarly to the company in the article. About once a year or so one of the stand-out engineers that had th

I worked for a large telco that operates very, very similarly to the company in the article. About once a year or so one of the stand-out engineers that had the weight of the world on their shoulders would get burnt out and frustrated enough to do exactly what you suggest above. Literally everyone would just look around awkwardly, leave the meeting and never talk about it again. All of middle management already know all of this, the only way they keep their jobs is by never talking about it, and just ignoring anyone that does. The VPs and President only know what those below them feed them.