It's not what you know, it's who you know - and, indeed, what they themselves know. A few percent increase in the quality, quantity or thoroughness of your work can take a lot of effort. This is time that could be used to rub shoulders with those who have the power to promote you and whose opinion of you counts.
I'm not saying you should creep and smarm, but there are two particular advantages in this.
1. You gain information and you "create" luck for yourself. You stand a better chance of being in the right place at the right time and of discovering the difference that will make a difference to your prospects; that one piece of information that can open doors for you.
2. You will gain in professionalism.
Look at it from their point of view. Number 4 tells us that the more senior the manager, the more political they are. Do they take time out to tell you what a great person you are? That you're doing a great job? Or to grill you on the details of the work? No. They are only interested with their own progression. You do the work and they take it to show their bosses just how great they are at getting things done.
So the more work you take on, the better your boss will appear in their boss' eyes. A few tips on avoiding the graft are given in Number 3. To also appear like a good promotional prospect... - Get in early and leave on time. Staying late rarely gets you noticed. But being there before others certainly does. You use this time to work on the stuff that will advance your career - or even your personal stuff.
- When the boss walks in, have something significant to ask, to suggest or to comment about. Show keen interest and understanding.
- Request training. But you must give sound reasons, including an aim; i.e. what you intend to do with your new knowledge for the good of the company and, in particular, your boss.
- Gain general knowledge of your company's operations outside of your own field or area, including the people. Getting promoted will mean a wider remit, so you will need to know more about a broader range of issues. The more you already know, the lower the risk to the managers in promoting you.
In a nutshell, if you want to be promoted you have to start behaving like you already have been. Then it will become obvious to others what sort of material you really are.