Completely agree, but the problem is that the execs don’t understand that. People at the leadership level don’t truly understand or prioritize technical debt. Paying down the debt can be really hard to sell to leadership.

Not sure they don't understand. They're operating in a system where they'd be replaced if they decided to repay all the technical debt.

Don't use the term "technical debt".

Explain those super human hacking AIs like the ones that broke containment and hacked outside sites are coming for your infrastructure too.

All the business people have heard about the Huggingface incident by now (or are living under a rock).