> People start out wanting to achieve things, change things to be better, do a good job.

Like all generalizations, this is only partly true. There are bad actors.

> The active issue is disempowerment, created by other people (usually but not always senior) within the organisation.

Disempowerment (is that a word?) is necessary. So necessary, that entire departments incorporate it as a large part of their mandate. HR, finance, QA...

> So the question isn't "how to empower people", but rather "how to prevent disempowerment of people".

Or more, how to focus the disempowerment on things that matter?

> This isn't always popular, as it shifts the focus and responsibility for different behaviour away from the disempowered rank and file, towards the dysfunctional leadership.

Maybe it's not always popular because some disempowerment is necessary, and framing the entire issue as a necessity for its removal and those who disagree as dysfunctional is needlessly inflammatory and counterproductive?