Reply #9: No. The talent decreased as you went up the corporate pecking order.

[AdHocSolver]

The biggest group of incompetents inhabited the executive suites.

An incompetent middle management serves to insulate the higher ups from lower level employees, who may have some skill, from questioning the decisions of those above them. This is another important reason why competent people are seldom promoted.

Credit for a job well done always went up the pecking order, and blame for mistakes went to the low end of the pecking order, no matter what the reality.

We can see this kind of corporate model operative in the BP oil spill disaster.