On my first professional job, I observed a coworker gain management esteem, not by being a competent professional, but by adopting a facade of competence before management. i.e., by following a "work harder, not smarter" path. I have observed this at every job in my career, and if you are unlucky enough to be on a project with these individuals, you are guaranteed to be less productive with a lower quality outcome.

This is the main reason I started pursuing an interest in software metrics.