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I once attended a lecture for some of the top young professionals in my field, and the lecturer listed a company organisation chart, and invited people to imagine that they were running one of the smaller departments in the business.
He then invited people to point out on the chart who was most likely to help their career advancement.
After about seven people had put their ideas forward ("it's the MD because he wants everyone to get on", "it's my head of department because he does my appraisals", "it's my team because they help me achieve my objectives", etc, etc) I finally got frustrated and called out "the only person that matters on that chart is ME - none of the others will pay my mortgage".
It was the right answer.
A year later I was on the committee of the organisation that ran the training session.
Two years later I co-authored what is now the industry standard text in what was my field at the time.
Three years later I was the keynote speaker at the 25th anniversary meeting of the group.
The realisation that you have to shamelessly promote yourself in these ways was key in my career development.
As has been said already, if there's a vacancy the "victim" is going anyway. Taking the post is not doing them down, they were already on the skids.
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Overhead, the Albatross hangs motionless upon the air,
And deep beneath the rolling waves,
In labyrinths of Coral Caves,
The Echo of a distant time
Comes willowing across the sand;
And everthing is Green and Submarine
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