[deathhand]

I echo your statement and to take it a step further:

In corporate politics there is only one thing that 'wins' and that is profitability. That profitability comes from the workforce so the top leaders are usually very motivated, democratic people because the best ideas win and you need people on your side.

Thinking about the public sector, there is no KPI for a 'win'. When we try to start using statistics it becomes 'political', skewered, or hand waved away as a complex marcoeconomic force.

[brabel]

I believe studies have shown that people will routinely make bad decisions from the point-of-view of business, even when it's clear to them that that's the case, because of their other biases which are too powerful to resist, specially things like racism or similar forms of prejudice (e.g. someone who is from the same social level and geographical region as the boss gets promoted over a demonstrably better candidate who comes from a less favored region of the same country... sexism also seems to apply in many countries, including the USA).