A portion of a Harvard Business Review article that was posted on LinkedIn:
"In general, the more contaminated and corrosive the culture of an organization, the more parasitic individuals will rise, much like bacteria thrive in contaminated environments. You can see this in any organization when there’s a clear gap between individuals’ career success and their actual performance and talents. You can deal with this by being aware of the politics and partaking in them, though hopefully without selling your soul."
This is describes a company that we know very well!