My first (good) manager told me, when questioned, that he had such rapid career progression because he had decided to be the adult in the room
I have since realized that a lot of corporate theater and suits are really just covering for the fact that the person in question isn't behaving like an adult.
You know how, in a healthy household, a kid knows their parents are going to pull out all the stops to make things okay again?
Almost everyone at a company won't do this for any reason.