Comment by Aurornis

I've been back and forth between manager and IC, too.

It is different. I won't deny that.

However, politics and corporate absurdist formalities aren't exclusive to management. A lot of the corporate politics and face-palm worthy office games I've dealt with came from ICs, either as my peers, reports, or as some other manager's reports.

We just tend to give a pass to ICs when they do it because they're not viewed as having as much power in the office.