A few things:
1. You get a good boss (Division Manager). You work hard for him, a great motivator. Life is grand. The division looks good, he looks good, you look good. He is promoted within 2 years and then you get a jerk for a DM and he stays there FOREVER, and upper management ignores his insensibilities, arrogance, micromanaging or his overall inability to manage and they will keep him in that position. Upper management people don't seem to realize that there are 2 ways of exerting pressure on the grunts making the call: pulling up (the good managers), pushing down (the bad ones).
2. If you don't have aspirations to move up, don't take the job or at least don't mention those feelings at your interview. They want young aggressive people who are willing to marry Reynolds American and go whereever. If you are a hard working Joe that has roots and don't want to move, for example, you want to stay in sales and you like your area and don't want to go to management, but you still want the job, keep it to yourself and decide that after you have proven yourself on the job for awhile. You MIGHT change your mind.
3. Don't EVER give your idea that something that has come from above is a bad idea. Trust me, if it gets to you in written form at a meeting it's already etched in stone and any ideas not corresponding with corporate ideas are viewed as an inability to change or inflexibility. It doesn't matter that: You work the area. You know your competition. You know your accounts. Who in the world came up with this crazy idea. KEEP YOUR MOUTH SHUT AND SMILE WHILE NODDING VERTICALLY.
