i've found some of the 'water cooler' talk could easily foster gossip and cliques, leading to people "in the know" getting tapped for special projects and promotions, simply because they 'fit in' with a particular manager better, skills be damned. The 'smoke break' phenom too - if your boss smokes, figure out a way to get out there and spend time - that's their water cooler time, and the spoils go to the other smokers.

Of course it's not 100% that way, but my own experience has seen it play out a few times that way.