SAFe is one form this counter-force can take, characterized as using a lot of complicated verbiage which makes it an easy sell for consultants.

I'm not saying this is wrong. Maybe quarterly plans on a fundamental level is what companies in our market economy is. Perhaps we shouldn't be agile on a company level. But let's at least be clear about what the strategy is.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stakhanovite_movement

I have a vague understanding of what the movement was, but I'm unsure how you are relating it back here.

Are the degenerated attributes related to the "puffery" and "theatre".

Stakhanovite is the most benign fraud (pooling productivity). There was a Microsoft engineer that outsourced his job to several engineers in India. I bet he seemed very productive.

There are less benign frauds. Boeing and their suppliers let quality slip. Wells Fargo met account opening goals by opening accounts without asking the customer.

I think, unfortunately, the pendulum in American corporate politics is swinging away from Deming, at the moment. Growth through making good and reliable products is getting difficult to sustain, which leads to the capitalist/financial lens to be applied to problems. The results are predictable: outsourcing, and "slogans, exhortations, and targets for the work force", and generally a lack of leadership or vision for the product. Better for short-term growth to be worse but cheaper.