” Following the return of the Enterprise from the five-year mission in 2271, Kirk accepted a promotion to admiral, while the Enterprise underwent an extensive refit. At the time, Kirk recommended Willard Decker to replace him as captain of the Enterprise, although Kirk accepted a grade reduction back to captain when he regained command of the ship to meet the V’Ger threat in 2274. After this incident, Kirk commanded the Enterprise on a historic second five-year mission.”

See - Kirk did make Admiral - and had the guts to take it up.

Unlike Baldy.

Kirk is more of a commando - which fits in perfectly with the environment that GR created. All episodes finally came down to Kirk, Spock, Roy and on occasion the engineer whose name I forget. His type of leadership suited the team he was given - a small compact specialised group. He was also charged with exploring the galaxy, a task that ought to be forwarded to small pioneering teams. Kirk corresponds to the ancient Japanese samurai Miyamoto Musashi, who could not conceive of defeat and in fact lost no fight in his 16 years of the sword.

In any event, Kirk was reprimanded on his return for his constant dereliction of duty. From what I read, he was never made admiral for this very reason.

Picard, on the other hand, is an office man. He is an administrator, tasked with maintaining peace in his currently assigned quadrant of the universe. He utilises diplomatic skills, choosing peaceful means over aggression. He leads a team of many memebers and while Riker, Beverly, Data and Troi are a regular part of his repertoire, he relies with considerable consistency on the work done by the lesser members of the Enterprise. He never risks his team, preferring to live to fight another day, when he may be better prepared. This kind of administration corresponds perfectly with the philosophies of Kautilya and Sun Tzu, both who preferred life over glory.

It will be recalled that Picard was offered admiralty for his service, and offer he turned down because he wished to keep exploring. This of course, was a ruse to keep a terrible series in continuation.