I think you're right about things like chain of command; most companies are hierarchical in this way. But I think there's a fallacy that's widely believed that people "at the top" see things more clearly than those... not at the "top". I think we see very little no matter where we are, and we have to rely on each other to get the whole picture. To me, this indicates that a more flat structure makes sense: I'm good at the tech thing, you're good at the budgeting thing, if suddenly you stop being good at the budgeting thing I want someone else to do it, and vice versa.

Indeed.

Not to mention that the company was already monitoring keystrokes and requiring screen sharing. This indeed is some slavery mindset.

not higher. the graph is topologically unchanged if you draw it with the CEO at the bottom, and so on.

don’t be hoodwinked by bad analogies, or the arbitrary demands of insecure narcissists