Connections

Maybe it's just because I'm already corrupted by politics, but I think that using connections to get somewhere isn't necessarily a bad thing. You can get ahead without relying on contacts, or without brown nosing, but you will never get as far as you would have gotten if you just worked within the system every now and then. This is not to say that you totally have to give up your integrity or independency, but the fact is that the system works this way, and that it would be stupid to just reject it alltogether. You know some guys in your industry, so what's the harm in asking them to help you out every now and then?

Jam it back in, in the dark.