Agreed. He's describing an organization where the leaders are not actually interested in doing a good job. An organization that's not a true meritocracy. An organization where actually playing the game is more important than doing a good job.

Heartbreaking as it is, that describes most large organizations, and most small ones too. If you work at a place where the leadership supports you and truly wants you to do a good job, where the best people get promoted regardless of whether they're "playing the game" then you have found a rare place indeed!

I think that our education system was trying to teach me this all along, and I failed to learn it until I was in my 40s.