Oliver Bateman Does the WorkVerified account

roles where consistent feedback and deliverables matter: secretary, coordinator, paralegal, "document review" temp lawyer, fact checker roles where they don't: tenured prof, t-track prof with "following" or "rep," staff writer with "clout," manager, "director" of any "center"

the former have roles in which a single screw-up could trigger a lawsuit or completely derail the operation. most of the time they are paid very little but worked very hard the latter simply need to "show their work" while "doing the work." they are fungible

"dean" and "head coach" and "chancellor" and so on fall into the latter category. most politicians, too. these people are just "faces" of the operation. if they *are* down in the weeds, their operations might run better, but that's irrelevant in the grand scheme of things.

of course, these "high-level" people are all hired with "merit" in mind, along with other "soft skills" etc. they have. but that is just lip service. when i worked at the golden corral we used to say "we need a body in the meat room." this is roughly the same. gimme a body.

"A body in the meat room." Jesus. B-movie horror comes to HR.