Great list. Some general commentary: companies don't get this way because people are stupid. They get this way because people hyper-optimize for their own self

Great list. Some general commentary: companies don't get this way because people are stupid. They get this way because people hyper-optimize for their own self-interests. Everything on this list is a way to show off, suck up, or CYA, all of which occurs because people want to stay employed and get promoted, and they implicitly optimize for more immediate, local rewards like positive social feedback from the colleagues they see on a daily basis. Abstract and macro-level concepts are difficult to grasp and people have soft, differing opinions on them. However, people who work with you daily will come to "know" that you're a super hard worker if you're sending out emails at 4am. Including the company's Controller in a database schema design meeting not only gives you a chance to demonstrate your know-how to someone else in the organization, but also wins points for being careful, considerate, and cautious. When promotion time comes, the less-visible heads-down coder who's been working hard and churning out bugfixes gets a lot less credit than his more boisterous, gregarious counterpart, who's been more focused on grooming personal biases in his favor than actually plugging in commits. In theory a good corporate leader is supposed to make sure this kind of stuff doesn't happen, but they're only human, so really 99% of people operate this way. What it translates to is that if you want to be a successful employee, remember ABC: Always Be Campaigning. Your primary job duty is popularity.