>>My career lesson is that being right isn't the hard part of being a senior staff engineer.
Not only that, but your own definition of 'right' may or may not align with what is 'right' for the people paying your salary - pretending otherwise is just silly.
In any organization, you advocate for what you believe is 'right' the best you can, someone else (or a consensus of others) will likely decide if they agree - you get to decide if you are willing to live with it/compromise, or move on - I have done both in my career.
Not only that, but your own definition of 'right' may or may not align with what is 'right' for the people paying your salary - pretending otherwise is just silly.
In any organization, you advocate for what you believe is 'right' the best you can, someone else (or a consensus of others) will likely decide if they agree - you get to decide if you are willing to live with it/compromise, or move on - I have done both in my career.