I personally believe that they know full well what they are doing but they give themselves permission to do it based on their perceived efforts and the sacrifices they have endured for the Kingdom
Is not uncommon for people who stay in power for this long to begin giving themselves this type of privilege
JWs do, to some level, teach that God will bless your efforts and that those blessing can be spiritual as well as material. Just refer to some of the stories given at assemblies, where people who gave up jobs and other things to attend assemblies. In many cases they later on get rewarded for their sacrifice. They probably feel no one has done more and that is why the holy spirit has put them in that place.