You're right, it is very cynical. Unfortunately it's also true. I have seen people rise to fame and fortune, and very few of them have done so by building a rep

You're right, it is very cynical. Unfortunately it's also true. I have seen people rise to fame and fortune, and very few of them have done so by building a reputation for honesty. It appears to me that 80% of the people that "make it" financially have done so by lying or cheating at some point in the game. The remaining 20% have made it by having an impeccable reputation that they build on. It's not the norm though. There seems to be differences in these numbers depending on what industry you're in. Construction appears at one end of the spectrum to be thoroughly corrupt, Software appears at the other end to be very trust and reputation based. That said, I know people in the software industry that have lied and gamed their way to their fortune. I don't particularly like it, I just observe the world I live in, and not the world I would like to live in.