That cartoon about the mentor is so true. My wife had an EVP who claimed he “mentored” hundreds of people at the same time — it was nothing more than ass-licking and self-promoting, and it made the guy feel so good about himself.
The Peter Principle says it all: “In a hierarchy, every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence” — which would be fine but for the corollary: “In time, every post tends to be occupied by an employee who is incompetent to carry out its duties.”