It's hard to characterize someone based solely on a series of vignettes but they do seem a bit familiar. I've worked with people that seem similar to Mr. X and,

It's hard to characterize someone based solely on a series of vignettes but they do seem a bit familiar. I've worked with people that seem similar to Mr. X and, at least a couple times, have had to report to someone like him. In my opinion it's important to keep one's idealism and practicality balanced. For instance: solving the company's problems first and letting the customer solves their own strikes me as both practical and reasonable. Opening one's mouth and recommending that code be literally cut-and-pasted repeatedly may sound practical, but in practice I've learned that's rarely the case. I think the perfect mentor is nearly impossible to find. I believe that I've been well served by reporting to a variety of different personalities and striving to emulate those things that, as far as I could tell, where helping them succeed. That's a bit of a punt, but I don't think there's an easy answer here.