I have ranted about this utter bollocks in the past, but I'm going to briefly reiterate for you here: Before I went full-time as a writer, I once held a job in a TV company I won't name, running a large creative department that had offices in various nations.

Whilst the people in my department were brilliant and a joy to work with, what I hated most about middle management were the idiotic pseudo-macho one-upmanship behaviours that many other middle managers invariably performed (you know the kind of thing - sending emails at stupid o'clock to make it look like you're still working, or deliberately staying late, or being the arsehole who says "just one more question" at 5:30pm, provoking another two hours pointless discussion in a management meeting).

I refused to engage with any of that. For many years, I had stand-offs with bosses who blithered the usual "letting the team down" claptrap because I had the temerity to work my allotted hours and leave on time. Yet our department was exceptionally efficient and well-organised, so that's why I was able to get away with this.

In contrast, many other middle managers swallowed the "letting the team down", "work is a family" Kool-Aid and kowtowed to the misery of insane working hours. Many of their children missed birthdays or had family holidays cancelled as a result. I always refused. Not once did I cancel a holiday or miss a birthday (my wife or my children) or miss a school play, sports day, or whatever. I'm proud I took a stand, and I've since had other middle managers who worked with me contact me saying they wished they'd taken a leaf out of my book and done the same (their children are now grown up, and it's too late).

To summarise, no one ever lay on their death bed wishing they'd spent those extra hours in management meetings instead of at their child's birthday.