We find that there are plenty of people who desire to progress in their careers, in their relationships, and in their overall lives, of which, some of those people understand that to make progress, requires not just good fortune, networking, and the like, but actual concerted personal effort directed towards that progress. In other words, typically what we get out of life correlates to the effort and groundwork we put forth to achieve that progress. That is to say, the progress that we as an individual or we as a society desire to see happen, requires not only a good plan but the execution of that plan, done typically through concentrated and coordinated effort.
To believe, somehow, that many a person makes progress in their career, but deserves it not, is reading the tea leaves wrong, for in the skein of time, there is order and fairness so that those that do not put forth the effort to achieve things of merit, though they may occasionally get lucky -- but life, has a way of balancing out, so that those that do not improve upon their talents but prefer to ignore such or to bury such, are not going to go as far as they could go, or that they should go.
Indeed, society's progress, or failure to make progress, has an awful lot to do with the knowledge and discoveries it has made, which have been thereby applied correctly to make positive progress. When that knowledge is instead used for self-aggrandizement, though, or for that which does not benefit society, then society falls back because the effort so needed to advance has not been properly applied or generated.
The mistake that many a person makes is to look around and express dissatisfaction with their life as it is, and to express their dismay that it appears that some people have undeservedly achieved something of merit, without the incumbent effort or background to have accomplished such. Though this may be true for a season, we need then to lift our heads up and recognize that the long term, is a very long period of time, and the undulations of that time, will invariably have ups and downs, so then to overly concentrate on what appears to be an uptick for one individual, does not provide us with the necessary perspective to understand, that positive progress has a strong correlation to effort and must in the end, be paid for by the sweat, blood, and tears of those so trying to consciously achieve such.
In this world, unfairness and injustice surround us, but recognize this for a certainty, there will be fairness and there will be justice, for the ultimate construct that we exist in, insists upon such, so that to truly achieve what we need to achieve, will require teamwork and individual effort, and when that has been put forth, the results will ultimately match up with that effort and persistence. Remember this well, what we do and what we become, surely matters, and those who keep their nose to the grindstone, will when they have finished running their race, duly reap the fair progressive reward for their dedicated diligence.