Most middle management positions function as pyramid schemes. People graduate from entry level to middle management One to work longer hours for mediocre salary, all just for the privilege of a mere shot at the real payday aka upper management. But there are dozens or hundreds of middle managers competing for a handful of executive positions, and those executives are lifers who only vacate their positions when they retire. And anyways, most of those higher slots will actually be filled via “networking” aka nepotism, so even the prize is an illusion.