It doesn't work like this at all. PHBs exist because top management doesn't want to be even remotely concerned with employee management. Actually, not that many people do: you have bosses above you who expect you to push things in one direction, then you have your reports who tell you their story, you understand both sides have their merits but one is more important so in order to keep your job you do what you are expected to do. With some teams everything works fine, in other cases things go downhill. When you compare this with working with machines, it can be exhausting, unless you enjoy this kind of challenges.