It is indeed interesting to play the game. I was not particularly good at the politics part of it. I had certain run ins with some of the execs for sure. What helped me was that I was honest with them and admitted mistakes when they occurred and fixed them. But if you have a boss who is threatened by you and has reached the top of his or her career, don't expect much help. Look for other allies and at some point you may need to move on to get ahead. That may even mean staring your own company. Even after being an executive director, I did. Best move of my life.