Comment by aleph_minus_one

> If a guy is in, say, the auto business, and needs a lawyer, the guy might want the best lawyer but will not fear that the lawyer will enter the auto business as a powerful competitor. Similarly for a good medical doctor.

> For an optimization guy saving, say, 5% of the operating costs of a big business, say, $billion in revenue a year, all the management suite will be afraid of the guy getting too much power and work to get him out -- *Goal Subordination 101 or just fighting to retain position in the tribe.

The optimization guy will also not have the infrastructure to compete with the big business. Additionally, the optimization guy will likely not fight for the management position (not every great applied mathematician is a great manager (in my opinion in particular because leadership of employees and office politics are very different skills)).

So, there is no competition: simply pay the optimization guy a great salary and somewhat isolate him from the gory office politics - problem solved, everybody will live in peace.

But this is not what happens in your example; so the only reason that I can imagine is the usual, irrational bullying of nerds that many nerds know from the schoolyard.