Successful politicians don’t appoint yes-men or sycophants to positions under them, they appoint fixers, people whose skill is getting things done, and thus get their boss reelected. It may not be a technical skill, but it is an eusocial one, and highly necessary to stave off Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy. Even in a dictatorship, the guy in charge answers to a core constituency that expects results, whether it is the Pretorian Guard or whatever faction keeps him in power.
Successful politicians don’t appoint yes-men or sycophants to positions under them, they appoint fixers, people whose skill is getting things done, and thus get their boss reelected. It may not be a technical skill, but it is an eusocial one, and highly necessary to stave off Pournelle’s Iron Law of Bureaucracy. Even in a dictatorship, the guy in charge answers to a core constituency that expects results, whether it is the Pretorian Guard or whatever faction keeps him in power.