I would rephrase that as the problem with the Cravath system is that companies that claim to follow it, don't. The system, as developed at Cravath, involved ext

I would rephrase that as the problem with the Cravath system is that companies that claim to follow it, don't. The system, as developed at Cravath, involved extensive training and mentoring. The advantage of the system for other companies was that they got very experienced and well trained employees by hiring "alumni" of Cravath. The Up or Out promotion system used by most companies (and for officers in the US military), the advantages of the cravath system were removed and only the up or out was retained. The most prominent example of how this perverted version of the cravath system came to permeate US industry was Jack Welch's GE. Welch is seen as a hero by business majors and every stupid thing he said or did is worshipped as gospel. The quintessential example of Welch's stupidity came during a discussion with employees, where an employee asked about loyalty and Welch responded: "it's Friday, you got paid, we're even."