The soul of maintaining a new machine

This is very well done and applies to lots more electronics than copy machines, and lots more corporations than Xerox.

You could substitute a laptop computer for a copy machine, as an example of another electronic hardware/software purpose-built assembly, and lots of the same things will naturally apply, even if the nominal use of the laptop never includes any need to open it up for routine electronic service for the lifetime of the device.

IOW even if the only thing anybody "services" is the software.

Lots of people would also agree that the ideal in either case would be no routine service needed at all, not even the software. For the lifetime of the device, of course.

It doesn't take that much additional abstraction to relate how so many companies should really reckon with the possibility that people having great experience on the front line also often have just plain natural leadership ability. Even if it has been untapped it could still amount to more sound decision-making, compared to executives in the same company having less of both.

Even if there is not some star performer on the front line who would make any executive seem dumb by comparison, the combined experience and leadership abilities of all those front-line people are still sometimes going to put the combined executives to shame if given the chance.

Hence why they are not usually given the chance.