What's the best way to climb the corporate ladder

Hi stuckonu! That's very true especially in the government! You can't go up unless you have a lot of strong "backers". There are only a few offices where employees can climb up because of his or her personal achievements. It's really discouraging but that's really how the real world works. For me, I'd rather just do my work and get a job well done. I will make a lot of accomplishments until the management does not have any more other excuse but to promote me. Else, I will seek advice and help from proper authorities (like the civil service not backers).

I don't know about other countries but in the UK it's an accepted fact that doing your job well is the best way to never get promoted: they'll promote someone else because you do such a good job they don't want to lose you. From the places I've worked, only one has had a policy of promoting on merit (a US company, Paris-based office), though that was because the department I worked in was extremely well-run. All the others promoted on how hard you sucked up to the boss, how rubbish you were at your job, whether you were a completely obnoxious scumbag, how well you could lie and whether you had absolutely no management skills whatsoever. But that's just my experience.

You have to be able to do both, actually. Though having someone to back you up and put you in a higher position, without knowledge, and without your own abilities you won't be staying long in the position. you have got to make yourself the one they would always think of when they need to do things, and when they have become sort of "dependent" on your expertise, then you should be able to pull yourself up to the corporate ladder.

I think both are important. You need to have a good relationship with your superiors and your performance should be exceptional in order to get promoted fast.