[brwr]

Well, it depends. I personally don't feel the need to self-promote to get a raise. I'll probably lose out on a few raises or promotions because of that, but I make a good amount of money and I'm good at what I do. That's enough for me.

[cookiecaper]

This is a fine position to take, but it demonstrates one of our pervasive social problems. People with the humility, modesty, and judgment to make good decisions are frequently passed over because they don't feel the need to lead people along or "prove" their value, whereas clowns frequently realize they have nothing except the show and actively work to manipulate human biases in their favor so that they'll continue to climb the ladder. This works very well. The end result is that good people end up hamstrung by incompetent-at-best managers, and they can take down the ship.

The dilemma re-emerges as one asks himself whether it is right to sit by and allow the dangerously incompetent to ascend based on mind games.

My answer used to be "Yeah, I'll just go to a place where that doesn't happen". I no longer believe such places exist.