I think Colin Kruger summed it quite succinctly in his article today.
Airline bosses like Alan Joyce flying high on this year's Queen's Birthday Honours list
The only two people that I know that got gongs were douche bags. One of them held a senior position and was an arrogant and condescending twerp who would use his privileged network to proliferate his own demeaning opinions of you. When we first met he began his usual whinging but stopped short when I left him with a clear impression that I was completely aware of how he operated and was about to knock his block off. Seemed to get his respect for the next four years, others weren't so lucky.
The other one is not even worth writing about.
Clearly the deciding formula appears to be broken and I value its merit less every year.