I used to feel like "playing the game" or "playing politics" was for poor performers to cover up their weaknesses. Thankfully over time I swallowed my pride and

I used to feel like "playing the game" or "playing politics" was for poor performers to cover up their weaknesses. Thankfully over time I swallowed my pride and decided if I was going to play, I was going to play to win at any cost. Check out the free book Playing to Win by David Sirlin [1]. Once I adopted this mindset, it was easier to do the "lame" things that were clearly just signalling mechanisms. Better clothes and grooming, a public blog, writing books, leadership in meetups, lots of open source work, conference speaking, reading all the right books, saying the right things, etc. Over time, instead of just doing these for "winning" I grew into someone an order of magnitude better than before I started. Sort of a catch 22. At some point it's not just signalling anymore. I'm extremely glad I swallowed my pride when I did, and really wish I'd done it sooner. [1] https://www.sirlin.net/ptw https://www.sirlin.net/ptw