I agree, in the sense that it's less about leetcode skills and more about company politics. I can tell you for a fact that the programming geniuses don't make product decisions, much less so strategy decisions. These products would look VERY different if that was the case.

Instead, the important strategic decisions are left for various opportunistic short termers, like product managers, directors etc. They are incentivized on shorter time scales and are motivated by prestige, visibility and career advancement. What looks good in a slide deck will be rewarded, basically. These people are much more in touch with internal company politics first and the industry at large second. They are shockingly oblivious to their own user base – (YouTube rewind is the best irrefutable proof for this).

Big redesigns and product changes are rewarded for way too early, imo. Common tenure for a PM is 1-1.5 years, enough for a promotion, and short enough to weasel out before they have to deal with the backlash.