re: Has anybody ever broke a cardinal rule with your boss and survived long term?

There's no winning here...

There are several people who could tell this same exact story at my place. Half of them would be correct, that they could potentially be more competent than their superiors. The other half are naive dingleberries who don't know shite other than what is right in front of them. Them knowing their small piece of the pie very well gives them a false sense of grandiosity.