Take away the born-to connections, in orgs at the upper levels, there’s often a temperament that prevails. That may come from experience, confidence, connection, etc. could come from support (err, favoritism) or the golden contract.

I guess a lot depends of what are the grounds of favoritism. You know, sometimes just being good at doing stuff and having somebody who has first hand experience of you being good at something and then backs you for something else that they couldn't objectively know you'd be good (compared to tons of other candidates) but, you know, good old gut feeling "I know this person has it" ... well that's technically favoritism, yet it certainly feels quite different from favouring somebody for other reasons like being family or doing some kind of personal favours.