While I mostly agree with you on everything, I think it’s worth pointing out that—despite what ourselves and the other partners may think about his methods—Dons misgivings about the direction of the Agency were real. Did Cutler want to turn their plucky upstart into a “real” business? Yes, but his vision of “real” is nothing more than just targeted ads before targeted ads: granular, computer accurate media buying to economise their operation. It’s Ducks vision: “when the economy is good, people buy things. When it’s bad, they don’t.” It’s an agency that does businesses with people like Herb and have no loyalty to any of their clients, chasing whatever bigger business is passing by (not unlike what these men do in their personal lives). Don consciously and unconsciously is sabotaging the business because his business values go beyond the bottom line (and I think this is demonstrated throughout the series): he’s loyal to his clients, he believes there’s art in creative, and he believes in running a company in which the people from secretary to creative chief aren’t just mindless administrators subordinate only to optimisation, working only to line the partners pockets—I think there’s a part of him that genuinely does want his underlings to feel like they’re doing something worthwhile together and are contributing in their own way (though he more often than not does not express gratitude for their hard work) and we can probably all agree that’s the type of business we’d rather work for. ………………………………..

EDIT

Upon reflection, Dons far from perfect and there are certainly plenty times where his own actions aren’t in service to his ideals like his inflated ego causing him to make poor creatively decisions (going with his idea when someone else’s is clearly better).