Asshole=promotion?

I wonder why some people are just complete assholes. I attended one meeting yesterday when this guy was presenting his paper to the rest of us and his boss who was sitting next to him kept interrupting, asking him to go faster and faster. I felt like saying to the boss, will you please just shut the fuck up and let him talk instead of cutting in every 30 seconds (I'm not exaggerating...and yes, I was staring at my watch the entire meeting). Ironically it was the interruptions to talk faster that was making the presentation longer than necessary. There are so many assholes out there that are in leadership positions that you just have to admire how they managed to get so far on so little brain and so little charm.