Promotions are good. Within your institution, you're elevating your best to positions of greater responsibility, those who have proven themselves loyal and capable of maintaining company ethos, quality and prestige. For the individual, it's more money, respect, higher regard in the company and, arguably, society.

In the funny world of professional services, promotions happen en masse. Accounting giant Deloitte, for instance, promoted 81 people to partner this year in the U.K. alone. In law, the biggest promoter of them all is Kirkland & Ellis, which earlier this month published a statement saying it was "pleased to announce that 200 attorneys have been promoted to partner".