Far too narrow a view. These engineers "revving engines in career neutral" are where they are because they have not differentiated their talents or their skills-set.
I have three degrees in natural sciences and a business degree as formal schooling goes. Those were springboards to my own 22 years of career success. The rest was diversifying skills sets and selling them to someone in the consumer products and pharmaceuticals businesses who buys them.
In my business, I am the CEO and chief biochemist, Principal consultant, and head of business development.
Who says a CEO doesn't add value, and generally invents nothing? I AM the value and the product sought by my clients.
You are merely envious of CEOs because board members value what they do so much to bring a vision to a bunch of engineers whose efforts would be scattered in a thousand different, non-business related directions otherwise.
You know, one of the things you should have learned by know is not to start manhood boasts around here. Sooner or later someone will ask you to whip out your credentials and compare. You ain't goann come up a winner a lot of the time.
Nevertheless, the credentials you boast about, matchable though they are by lots of folks around here, are enough to put you in a stratosphere of self-absorbtion that few will want to match. You may be right for yourself, but with thousands of you wailing on every street corner in the land it is not going to win the next presidency.
You flatter yourself too much. Also, I am not much impressed with a self-employed self-appointed CEO who only makes 6 figures. When you get it up to around 10 give me a call.
Just never lose sight of the fact that somewhere in Asia is somebody who is just as good at biochemistry as you, and a lot hungrier