You hit the nail on the head. "Total lack of coherence" is the best way to describe the vast majority of the large corporate environments I have worked in during my career as a software engineer. All this talk of focusing on "one thing" is just more noise drowned out by the conflicting, in many cases contradictory "one things" the average corporate drone will receive from their many layers of superiors on a regular basis. The one unmistakable conclusion that I have taken from this is that corporations do not scale effectively. Everyone can have their "one thing" when your business is small, but once you reach a critical threshold, everyone's "one thing" doesn't make any sense in the broader context - unless, as you state, the leadership is dictatorial. In which case, good luck retaining the best/brightest/most creative individuals that are lifeblood of any successful business. People are not robots; it takes a nuanced leadership style that understands both the business and the nature of how creative individuals work, to truly be a successful leader. But that's not something you can quote in a four paragraph puff piece blog post.