I understand doing it accidentally or as a side-effect of hard-to-fix dysfunction, but it boggles my mind that they were fully explicit and self-aware and intentional about creating a process where you couldn't succeed without being an asshole. What a terrible place!

To give a maximally charitable interpretation, "nice" could be a euphemism for "doormat/not assertive/not raising objections when one should". Though "being perfectly able to solve problems w/o pounding on the table and twisting arms" is evidence against this. (Though conceivably those giving feedback hadn't noticed that evidence; I have no knowledge here.) Also, it would be ironic if they were "nice" enough to use a euphemism that obscured their point completely.