I'm one of the long term survivors, you probably know me. I've watched the company collapse into less than mediocrity. Because there's no work (but they continue to pay me well!) I've had a long time to figure out what's gone wrong.... And it's the Hi Pot program.
This program "identifies future Leaders early in their careers..." At least that's what these self-loving hypocrites tell themselves. What it really does is allow supervisors and managers to pick their favorites who look like them (or how they would like to look) and promote these brown-noser entitled quickly from job to job (including juicy expat assignments).
You end up with "Leaders" who can't inspire, can't think strategically, micro-manage, and are entitled, selfish, narcicists, but are good at presentations. They've survived the cycles so they tell themselves they are of course the best. They can't stand post-audits of their work because they can't stand the truth: they are nowhere as good as they think they are. They move quickly through "cross-training" assignments which make them believe they are all perfectly knowledgeable in every discipline, although in reality they are master of none and don't even know how to properly supervise.
Huge failures (APLNG, Surmont, GOM... drillship, corporate jet, and office leases) are always someone else's fault and these arrogant loser leaders are kept around and even promoted. This time the price forecast is right because they are brilliant. This time that exploration play is The Big One because they are brilliant. No strategic alternatives are needed for projects because these brilliant "Leaders" always know the right answer. They don't know how to listen because they don't need to-- they already know everything. They enjoy their special perks: parking (these folks can't be expected to walk far!), stock grants / stock options, huge bonuses, and financial planning to defer income to pay the least taxes forever. Most are already worth between $10 and $100 million but they keep working because they love the power, perks, and accolades from the minions below them. When they finally do "retire" they are actually severed with immense packages.
There's no easy solution here. These inbred chosen incestuous relationships and "people assets" are set firmly in the company. There's a lot of smart people below them but they are ignored or were EOI'd. Only a huge in-house cleaning will fix things, and it's probably after the company sells more assets and its empty shell is bought by XOM.