Ask HN: What have you observed about leadership at your company?

It seems that startups can become full of really ambitious and capable people, but the ranks of leadership can become "Yes" people who manage up to save themselves more so than manage down to lead their teams. Is there a culture here to reward poor leadership and a dark culture of fake results and blame: in that being in a higher position can insulate you, you can blame underlings for failures, you can create a facade of success for your managers (e.g. C Roles). If you're options/benefits are large and look good on paper, I can imagine how there can be indecision about leaving such a potential reward due to golden-handcuffs (that could be replaced with more certain reward at a public company). (Or is leading just a hard problem?)

When that behavior becomes rewarded in some way (e.g. the behavior is a successful one for financial and power survival), it becomes harder to break that. The company begins to suffer and atrophy. Is there real pressure on the company to satisfy investors, to hide failure, etc. How prevalent is this in the startup community (compared to other businesses - is it more pressurized/tangible at a small company/startup)? Any anecdotal evidence about how situations changed overtime?

I want to know the community's experience with this and any stories and advice that can be shared.