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Comment by MrScruff | Hacker News Reader

I've always found the colleagues that were less focused on credit, recognition, awards made better colleagues. Fundamentally it's about who you'd rather be holding you in high regard - people who've worked with you or people reading your LinkedIn profile.

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Yes, they are better colleagues. They do not get promotions, pay raise or any other recognition or reward from management. Even from colleagues who hold them in high regards, they do not get praise on meetings as much either.

However, people with ego end up being praised more, in front of bosses or others, because people want to be on their good side. And that makes them look better, they end up promoted and seen as higher performers.

I don’t think this is true in general, but I would admit it depends on the quality of leadership, and their ability to recognise this dynamic. I don’t think you can have a high functioning company if you reward people who focus on signalling over the company’s actual goals.

If you're in a field with fierce competition the ones who focus on credit/recognition/awards get some sort of boost above their actual potential. Meanwhile those who don't will get punished, the ones who end up doing well despite it likely just had better aptitude (or something else advantageous) on top of having more pleasant characteristics. It's some sort of Berkson's paradox.

The counter to this is if those in leadership positions recognise this dynamic and actively seek to counter it by focusing on core competencies during advancement discussions.

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