When I was in the Army I always thought my superior officers were idiots.
It wasn’t until I reached their rank that I realized just how complicated their job was and all of the moving parts that went into their decisions.
By the time I was a Major I started giving my bosses a bit of credit.
I'm in IT. Got promoted fast at my first consulting gig, wound up as director of field ops after a year or so, had 75-80 people reporting to me. Also, was so far in over my head that I couldn't see straight. Was a miserable and complete failure. It was a textbook example of the Peter Principle at work.
20-odd years later, I'm an executive again. Every day, I'm amazed at how little I knew back then. And, every day I learn something new in my current position. Never ceases to amaze me how shifting one small piece of the puzzle affects the entire company. Making good decisions is 10x harder than frontline grunt work.