You’re assuming what results in a promotion is the same as what’s worth a promotion. Nepotism makes it really easy to convince someone to promote you, but it doesn’t mean someone else doing the same thing would get a promotion.
the practice among those with power or influence of favouring relatives, friends, or associates, especially by giving them jobs.
how is that related to someone finding a complicated but irrelevant problem to solve to show how competent they're to the mba thats in the position to greenlight the promotion...?
Well, an MBA that wants to promote their relative might need that "complicated but irrelevant problem" solved as a kind of "cover your ass" paper trail.
