Fruitbat
To be honest, I think you make a good point of reminding us that the Captain is ultimately in charge.
I've flown with a good few CSDs who rather seem to think it's their aircraft and their crew (indeed saying as much in their PA's) thus creating more of a divide - but to be fair, there are equally many excellent CSD's who recognise the chain of command and just get on with working as one team.