Recruiting has been known to lie - There are countless examples of people who were lied to about their title/level and their next move in company. Backwards titles complicates this further. This coupled with much of my other feedback lead to great employees either leaving the company, or leaving and coming back (which the CEO, SVPs, and many other leaders have done). When it comes to hiring your own team, people managers have to do the majority of searching for candidates (provided they want to assure they get the best person for the role).
Most mid-level leaders are afraid of and/or avoid confrontation - Bad to mediocre employees aren't disciplined, and over-achievers aren't reward commensurate of their impact. I'm not sure anyone has ever been put on an action plan (let alone fired) at the company, which makes those that are (below) average at their job think that they just have to wait to be promoted. Leaders try to contain over-achievers by promising a bright future if they just wait, then offer you everything you want(ed) when it's too late. Senior leaders lift up concerns about employees, so do said manager's people, and yet no material corrective action is taken resulting in their great employees moving on. Wrong or right, this gives the perception that managers are more concerned with being everyone's friend and are happy with where they are, so they state that "everyone here is great" to make things easier vs having tough conversations or potentially ruffling feathers by having some on a faster track than their peers.
Top down management style - A lot of mid-level to senior leaders don't take constructive criticism well from their employees. They get the majority of their direction from senior executives, then generally tailor to what their plan was, which delays or fractures career promises (moving targets). They no doubt mean well, but don't seem to realize that if they are authentic 98% of the time, employees are still left guessing when the other 2% is occurring (and if they can truly rely on them for their best interests). Additionally, when you ask them why overall company projections or a product launch deadline were missed, you tend to get boilerplate excuses.
Seniority can breed complacence - The most people I've ever seen in a company that have been there for the majority of their career. That's generally a good thing, but many of these people don't have a competitive background for their position that one would expect from an SAP/leader in technology. Diversity (including in professional experiences) is a good thing. A lot of the leaders that have been with the company for the majority of their career likely wouldn't be at the same level at any other comparable company, and many didn't go to school for what they are doing. Perhaps they realize this, so they never leave, and are fine with mediocre employees on their team as it won't challenge their position in company. Because many haven't worked at other major companies, they don't know any better, generally given false positive reviews on their managers and for Concur as a best place to work. Little to no value is given for having advanced degrees (nor do leaders encourage their employees to pursue them) as the company seems to think consulting companies and annual conferences are the only thing needed to help with on-going education efforts.