At a large public company— I just don’t do it. Can’t remember the last time I made a slide deck. Has possibly limited my upward trajectory but I guess that’s the trade-off.

work for small companies

I've exclusively only worked for small companies and my job has mostly always revolved around one person's opinion.

Yep. Usually employe #{1:4}

That seems preferable since that person was in the trenches of the company.. presumably doing some necessary work.

The reality is that it's usually someone who was a founder or cofounder and has the luxury of gambling money on a business. It's less an indicator that they know what they're doing and more that they had money to pay you to execute on their often flawed ideas and perceptions.