Both happen quite a bit, in large organizations. In most cases, the person at the top sets KPIs (e.g. a salesperson should sell at least $10 million of goods),

Both happen quite a bit, in large organizations. In most cases, the person at the top sets KPIs (e.g. a salesperson should sell at least $10 million of goods), and incentives around those KPIs. Helping oneself means achieving those KPIs by any means -- bribes, kickbacks, fudging numbers, hiring prostitutes, etc. Some of those are illegal, and some merely unethical. In some cases, that aligns with corporate interests (more sales!). In some cases, it undermines corporate interests (bad reputation). In some cases, the person on the top quietly supports bad behavior, and in some cases, they have just a hard time stopping it. It's often quite hard to tell all of those apart. But we haven't really found a way to avoid at least some of those happening in any organization above, say, a few hundred people. Even at a hundred people, it's tough. One of the underemphasized advantages startups can have over big companies is pretty good alignment and protection against this sort of stuff. Everyone knows each other, and works as a genuine team.