A contested election for managing partner?!  If your reaction is quelle horreur, perhaps you should think of taking a page from corporate-land and imagining not only that the race for the top spot might be competitive, but imagining that an outsider with a track record of performance might be a compelling candidate. 

Could we ever envision such a revolution coming to pass? 

On that, I will venture no prognostications, observing only that market forces can, in the long run, have tectonic power.  I will, however, leave you with this marvelous tale of resistance to change (for which I must credit the timeless volume, Tournament of Lawyers, Galanter & Paley, 1991, at pg. 12, fn. 39):

"Clarence Seward, senior partner of the predecessor of the Cravath firm, not only refused to answer the telephone for several years after it was installed, but refused to allow typewriters in the office on grounds that 'clients would resent the lack of personal attention to their business implied in sending them machine-made letters'."

Other revolutions may yet occur.