[dtjb]

I don't think it's an exclusively bad practice, especially at larger organizations where cliques and silos are deeply entrenched. It can be hard to retain good people when every opportunity is spoken for by the director's buddy and there's no path to move up.

I'm not arguing an absolute, there should be a way for leaders to hand pick the clear favorite when they're qualified, but I don't know if that should be the default policy.