We have an epidemic of bad leadership. It's everywhere. Governments, research institutions, private and public companies. I don't know the cause of it, but from what I observe from my workplace it's because the heavily bureaucratic processes of both public and private entities requires a certain personality that is basically a politician above all else. And the whole promotion process is a one way valve. Once you go up a rung there's very little you can do to be pushed down the same rung again.

The best managers I had are people who made their career in the US and returned to Europe as senior managers.

One the advantages of capitalist competition is companies run by bad managers go bust and the resources can be redeployed. You get rid of that and have promotion based on office politics and you get a lot of problems.