Useless staff can still be fired, he's not offering them lifetime employment. And I've seen first hand the damage done by getting rid of the "mediocre" people

Useless staff can still be fired, he's not offering them lifetime employment. And I've seen first hand the damage done by getting rid of the "mediocre" people who have been around for ages in favor of a new hotshot. Discontinuity and destruction of institutional knowledge has enormous hidden costs.