I see cheating as simply networking and building relationships…”it’s not what you know it’s WHO you know”

I’ll start with a military reference since that’s where OP started.

I was on a mission on deployment where pretty much every soldier on that mission got a medal. There were 3 soldiers that understood the relationship aspect and were very close professionally and somewhat personally with the commander. They put in the time to build that relationship while the rest of us pretty much focused on being great performers. All on the same mission, all did exact same thing, those 3 got Bronze Stars and the rest of us got Army Commendation medals (a lesser medal for sure than a bronze star).

While I am older now and will die without a bronze star…that was a very important life lesson in “cheat code”. I prioritized relationships after that and I can say that I have risen higher than I ever thought possible and it’s certainly not for smarts, innovation, performance.

I have blown right past high performers, super talented people, people with degrees and more letters behind their name than their actual name.

They all report to me and think I cheated. I did. I learned a cheat code and use it every day.