“But once you get that first star on, things change.” … “But once you get that miter one, things change.”

I wonder if any of this is transferable to another sphere.

But once you get that first star on, things change. Advancement becomes about subjective politics not empirical outcomes. When your next job and your next promotion depends on a vote of the United States Senate their priorities become your own. And you start to resemble a senator, more and more, and a general less and less.