Many of us have spent so many years in hierarchies, we've become habituated to the toxicity of the culture. We accept someone deciding what we will talk about in meetings. We accept someone being the ultimate source of our feedback and evaluation. We accept someone defining our work and approving our learning. We accept someone to whom loyalty means not talking to people in our larger knowledge and resource networks.
In more adult cultures, we experience as gross rather than subtle toxins. Each contributes directly to the massive global disengagement we now see.