I don't think they get ahead because of admiration. It's just that skill can only be judged by people with equal or more skill, if you have to judge somebody without the necessary skill to do so you have two options. 1. admit you don't know and get somebody else to judge him (admit your own incompetence) 2. judge by other factors (including confidence)

option 2 is by far the easiest and thus the most chosen one.