Look at the majority of large companies
CEOs and boards with little or no experience of that industry but lots of political and city connections
Large Legal and
PR organisations
Bonus /Stock price fixated
Just for a laugh to myself i wrote to Easyjet (actually a company I like and trust) when they brought out seat selection which for me had been a no no for using them. I asked, tongue in cheek if they achieved their lower fares through savings on operational xpenses, pilots engineers, maintenance etc. needless to say i got back a form letter saying that they dd none of those things complied with all the rules etc and safety was their first priority. To which i replied that I had asked the question because their board members responsibilities listed things like HR Finance market Sales Business development etc etc , but non of them was responsible for safety . No answer. As is aid I am fine with Ez and have used them often but it is this culture where the management distance themselves from the real core fo the business on the a good manager can manage anything principle . That's Ok in business school with fictional widget companies and in the real world with straightforward business enterprises but airlines are not straightforward business enterprises nor is building airliners and there has to be an understanding that sometimes large sums of money need to be invested in new technology, on fixing unforeseen problems or in the case of airlines things like strikes and weather adding zillions to the cost line but still demanding they meet analyst expectations somehow.
Not a problem confined to aviation but one that is often at the heart of various disasters major accidents etc where as someone pointed out no lessons have been learned from the 2008 financial crash because these is too much money at stake and as 2008 proved no ones going to jail over it. And as another poster pointed out we always think our generation is the smartest