Up to a certain stage in your life everyone in a position of power is a moron. Some people evolve past that line of thinking, some don’t.

Funny, for me it was the opposite. I used to trust the experts and assume that most people in a position of power got there on their merits.

I think for me it was more a journey of understanding the necessity of the function and not the person. As in, I would question the need for management or marketing.

As I matured and, in some cases, tried to perform those tasks myself, I had a respect for the function. The people may still suck but at least now I understand how good execution of that function is necessary for the organization as a whole.

I definitely see the value of management, marketing, and especially product management. Having worked at places with and without that function, I'm more convinced than ever that software architects are a net negative.