> If you're going to play the "game of thrones" as it were, learn the rules first.

Agreed. Or decide to not play. And just leave to a different job.

One thing though that I see far too commonly is that engineers think that people in power "don't know or care" as opposed to "don't want to know or care" or "know damn well and want it this way". People in power may not be geniuses, but they likely aren't incompetent either. They probably have a fairly solid level of political skill or they wouldn't have gotten to that level.

Start from the assumption that things are shitty for a reason or you are going to miss something important.