I don't think that's what is being suggested. They aren't asking to be in charge, they are asking to experience the (potentially automatable) problems first. The leaders do not tend to be associated with the front lines.
If I want something looking repetitive working smooth, I‘ll let my best devs do the work themselves for a week and dig their way out of it.
Heck, that‘s exactly how I got serious about coding in the first place. The guy in the post automated his job, decided not to tell anyone and played games all day. I told my employer about my automation back then and they were like - „so you wanna quit now or join Engineering?“
Whatever floats your boat — I‘m CTO by now.