It's hard to escape your environment, strip everything away, and see your life from 10,000 feet. It's hard to see what it's like at the bottom if you're on top and there's dozens of layers between you and the people that actually get their hands dirty. It's even harder if you've done this job for years and have no idea how things have changed since you rose in the corporate structure, if you were even at the bottom to begin with. It's a perennial problem in large groups with hierarchical structure, and GM is one of the largest and most hierarchical groups out there.

What may seem to them as being a "go-getter" and exercising earned corporate privilege just makes them seem even more elitist and out-of-touch to the general public.

It reminds me of the importance of the consigliere in the Italian Mafia (or at least in the fiction surrounding it). You need a close friend that you can trust to tell you what is right rather than what you want to hear. If you don't have a way to back up and see the big picture, you won't be able to see trouble until it's staring you in the face, no matter how dangerous it may be.

Every time I hear of something like this, I remind myself to always be aware of the echo chamber that may be surrounding my own life and its affairs. What I think is real could very possibly be wishful fantasy.