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I remember hiring somebody who had great references. You'd talk to them on the phone and they'd say what a hard worker he was. He walked in the door and I quickly learned that he was awful. Sure, he was there lots of hours and looked busy but his work quality sucked. I neglected to ask those references if he was competent.
The way you get ahead in the corporate world is to identify work that isn't being done, have the initiative to go do it, do it competently, and still complete the work that is assigned to you. That immediately marks you as the go-to guy. You get all the tough problems. You save your company's bacon frequently. That gets you raises, promotions, and job offers from other companies that are always looking to poach the top players.
Not everyone has the aptitude to do that and an awful lot of people aren't willing to spend that many hours per week focused on keeping their company moving forwards. You might have 10% to 20% with the aptitude and half of that with the work ethic. Those are the ones who prosper. The question in this thread is "can MOST people...". I'd say no. Most people can't.
That has not been my observation...that one who becomes the "go-to" guy gets to move ahead. It's the schmoozer. Supervisors are blind to schmoozing. They're good at manipulation, being extremely likeable, flattery, and getting others to do their work. They invariably get the larger raises and the promotions...up to the point of incompetence. And there they will remain, still getting the good raises, but no more promotions. Because the higherups like them so gosh darn much.
I've seen it repeatedly. Everyone knows who the go-to guys and gals are. They are almost never the ones who get the biggest raises and best offices. Sometimes, but not usually.
I guess it boils down to people skills. Knowing how to get what you want from others is the critical thing. If you want a raise, you have to know how to get it. Schmoozing. And visibility. You have to be seen and heard. You have to be noticed, and liked. That's how you get ahead. That's not how I did it, but I certainly saw that over and over.
I've seen more evidence of people who go above and beyond the call of duty stuck on the same position for years (because they are so valuable in their role) than I do seeing the "go getters" move up the chain with speed and success
In short, no don't go above and beyond the call of duty. In today's workplace that's a suckers mentality because they will keep you right put where you are and you will Most likely NEVER see a big change in pay.
Delegate delegate delegate and train people That will get you further today than becoming so valuable learning and busting your butt. I just laugh at these people doing the jobs of 50 people in one day. It may keep you from getting laid off ( sometimes but even then it's no guarantee either) but it will only get you so far as well
I can't tell you how many people I've seen with their most to the grindstone for years only end up flipping out and quitting because they had no support and were eventually frustrated with never moving up anywheres
Companies don't care anymore about that. They just want "bodies" to get the work done
I think the logical to way to look at the issue is, A) what are the odds if one works hard, and B) what are the odds if one doesn't. My gut says the odds are better with option a. Things may well not work out, but maximizing one's odds is the best anyone can do.
Of course, it's not about "working hard" as one might define it personally - it's about how much value do you put out relative to everyone else with the same duties. If everyone is doing 13 hrs and you're doing 11, you may be behind the curve (or not; it depends on productivity).
Frankly, I would be scared of a situation where people aren't going beyond the call of duty: it's probably a sign that the company's lunch will be eaten by a hungrier company at some point in the future.
Also, I think the reason why schmoozing works is because in the big scheme of things, it's kind of important to go out and sell a product/service. Schmoozing skills can indicate that one can contribute value in an big way (bringing new customers, closing deals, things like that). Wrong?
When I was young my parents always told me that if you work hard, get along with your coworkers and bosses and get results at work you will be rewarded and move ahead in your career.
Do you think that is still true for most people in the year 2016?
For working the last 30 years I can honestly say it was not true 30 years ago, and much worse today. Most people who accomplish things, save money, get the work done are punished by jealous management that feels threatened because they never did a thing. What has gotten worse is that paperwork oriented everything now rules, and one can argue in some cases paperwork type work is real important, but for the most part the talkers and paperwork people rule everything now. They would just assume everyone that does things, like engineering, R&D, science, lab operations, manufacturing, etc be out of the country and the type that can be taken advantage of. Even top name companies are mostly a façade today, the engineers left just draw things, then send it all over seas where all those that do things can be hired at dirt cheap prices. That includes top research type R&D and high level engineering.
but the most important thing, in my observation over decades, is schmoozing. I've seen the schmoozer get ahead more times than i can count, while the one who doesn't schmooze or doesn't know how, gets left behind.....to do the hard work. Sad, but true.
When I was young my parents always told me that if you work hard, get along with your coworkers and bosses and get results at work you will be rewarded and move ahead in your career.
Do you think that is still true for most people in the year 2016?
When I was young my parents always told me that if you work hard, get along with your coworkers and bosses and get results at work you will be rewarded and move ahead in your career.
Do you think that is still true for most people in the year 2016?
Yes, but in working hard, don't learn your job. Learn your trade. Identify what's happening in your trade and where the trends are so you stay relevant and helpful to the company. Try to keep a wide enough focus that your skill set will be of value to your next employer. Do that, and even if the first company educates you, the next one will pay you for that education.
I've found classmates that stayed with their trade and kept with have all done pretty well. Sometimes that's with the same company, sometimes with new ones.
When I was young my parents always told me that if you work hard, get along with your coworkers and bosses and get results at work you will be rewarded and move ahead in your career.
Do you think that is still true for most people in the year 2016?
You are looking to work smart rather then hard From hard work horses die
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From hard work horses die 
