> head of HR. [...] menial job
I'm sorry, that came out judgy. If you're Head of HR for a 300+ person company that's a lot of work, a lot of responsibilities and a ton of coordination.
If you're 'Head of HR' for a ragtag group of 20 people that's a title without much gravitas. A head with no tail is just a node.
Both of these sound like menial jobs in the 1st world but if you can repair broken shit OR you can decide who has useful skills (and ultimately, who stays or goes), you are one of the five most important people in the group (and I could be two of them). They'd look at me funny and go back to talking about what machete or door design was best.
Being able to find things that people can excel at (or at the very least meet expectations) comes in pretty handy at work. You have the people you have, what's the best outcome you can get out of them? Not a conversation everyone wants to have, but pretty damned useful when it does happen.