there is now a significant body of research on this, mainly on the significance of proximity to the decision maker and the value of 'osmotic information transfer'

Google the following papers

- The Power of Proximity to Coworkers (2023) - The Old Boys Club (2019)

Also, many cases of precedence in history where simply being close the King (the decision maker) itself leads to the accumulation of power / influence (therefore career progression). Praetorians in ancient Rome, bodyguards to the Emperor but ending up accumulating power enough to actually decide who was going to be Emperor, or the Eunuchs in ancient China - originally emasculated house servants, but ended up controlling access to the Emperor and becoming powers behind the throne.

Trumpian deep state theory is an attempt to disrupt the bureaucratic power of institutions which have acquired and compounded power, wealth and influence by being proximate to the ostensible authority