I don’t understand what the problem would be for him if this was the environment. He’s respected as a technologist and had strong opinions on technology. He’s not merely a tech. savant without social skills.
Again, this assumes that this was what the environment was like. Not that it was just like that in name only.
I think he probably expected to be able to lead by authority, and tbh maybe he could have been such a steve jobs-like leader? But who knows. It’s also possible that there were much more talented people than him, not as public or beloved as him, who ended up winning technical decisions.
Large organizations all have all sorts of issues, and from the outside the devices that RL released were huge technologicL successes. I think we should acclaim the progress we’ve made so far in the field.
Again, this assumes that this was what the environment was like. Not that it was just like that in name only.