@fivetonsflax @futurebird @jduckles
Not impossible. But given the temperaments of people I knew at that level during that decade, I get the impression the thought process was more like, "Okay, I guess this is a thing we have to pay attention to now. How hard can it be?"

Combined with a mindset, "I am at this level of administration, therefore all my ideas are automatically more correct than those below me."