They probably mean the whole pyramid. Using the ten-is-a-lot metric for direct reports, as a middle manager in a large org I can pretty easily have 8 people report to me who each have 8 people report to them on average. So that’s already more people than the entire headcount of the 50 person company, and I’m only a 2nd tier manager, and may still have a half dozen roles between me and CTO (some of whom will have fewer directs, probably)