Is there some rule that says management competence and the desire to micromanage are inversely proportional? That’s always appeared to be the case to me.
Yes, there is. It was explained to me many years ago by a charming lady who was CEO of a training company.
Either you start with goals, or you start with rules. A goal-based organisation sets the goals, gives the workers/soldiers the means to achieve them, and trusts them to do their job.
A rule-based system demands everyone "go by the book", and when the rules don't work, as is usually the case, the answer is more rules.
This destroys the organisation, for a simple reason. If you set goals, you hire people who are competent to do the job and achieve the goals. If you set rules, you hire people who cannot think, but merely tick boxes and write conformance reports.
Remember Dagny Taggart and James Taggart? That's the difference.