So, the question is: how does one get into the "trusted core in-crowd"? At most companies it's based on playing the political game well and building alliances

So, the question is: how does one get into the "trusted core in-crowd"? At most companies it's based on playing the political game well and building alliances with the right people. I've never worked at Amazon but I doubt they are different in this regard. It's just how humans work in the general case. We need a third case between "bug" and "feature" for "that which works as designed, but does a harmful thing". I call that sort of thing a "misfeature."