You need to decide what you want to do and where you want to go. If you work for the government, your masters are ultimately politicians and bureaucrats. If your goal is to move to the top of the pyramid, you need to play there game. That means kissing babies and being visible.

Other times, there is a ceiling you can't go through. If you're an IT guy working at an engineering firm, you'll never be a PE, so you're pigeonholed. If you're an accountant, you'll never be the CEO of Microsoft.

If you're not a daylaborer, you're not working every hot of the day.