I think you bring up an excellent point, and I really like the cheese analogy. The only problem with this analogy is that it presumes that managers can effectively see exactly where the cheese is.
In your real world example, I would bet those engineers had some management team that decided localization into 100 languages was more important than interfacing with payment systems. That seems like a real world example of a management team that couldn't see the cheese.
Speaking from an engineer and team lead point of view, yes management is important, but not all management is created equally. For many large companies, the Dilbert principle is in full effect - non-technical people are promoted to management where they can supposedly do less damage. What does more damage to a company in the long term? One bad engineer checking in code that creates rework, or a manager that forces an entire team of engineers to head down the wrong path in the maze towards cheese that doesn't exist?
Also, I just wanted to mention that rowing doesn't mean you can't navigate as well. Bright engineers have a good picture of the industry they are in, and market direction. Some are far better at it than their managers. Just because you write code all day doesn't mean you don't know how to make a business decision, which is what I read when you say we can't row and navigate at the same time.