Reminded me of a couple of quotes from the book "Putt's Law and the Successful Technocrat":
The maximum rate of promotion is achieved at a level of crisis only slightly less than that which results in dismissal
and
Innovative organizations abhor little failures but reward big ones
That's satire, of course, but makes sense. After some basic competence requirements are met, there is no way to figure out whether a moonshot project failed because it is inherently hard or as a consequence of the manager's incompetence. Manager of the failed moonshot thus becomes a very desirable hire - at least he or she has valuable experience in tackling hard projects!
The maximum rate of promotion is achieved at a level of crisis only slightly less than that which results in dismissal
and
Innovative organizations abhor little failures but reward big ones
That's satire, of course, but makes sense. After some basic competence requirements are met, there is no way to figure out whether a moonshot project failed because it is inherently hard or as a consequence of the manager's incompetence. Manager of the failed moonshot thus becomes a very desirable hire - at least he or she has valuable experience in tackling hard projects!