Funnily, I believe you're both right, that there are several paths to success.
One is the "knowing the right people, buddies/PR" route. I've known several sociopaths and unethical people that do well along that route. Many have the "skill" of making you believe they're your best buddy (and then backstab you), or to sell you a bridge (or sell you a shitty job with unpaid extra hours).
The other is to provide something people will pay for, excel, and get known - which also involves some sales and PR, or marketing, but depending on your profession can be going through the speaker circuits at conferences, writing a blog or some other way to convey expertise, or getting writeups for your product somehow, if it's B2C - see Paul Graham on why he hired a PR:
One is the "knowing the right people, buddies/PR" route. I've known several sociopaths and unethical people that do well along that route. Many have the "skill" of making you believe they're your best buddy (and then backstab you), or to sell you a bridge (or sell you a shitty job with unpaid extra hours).
The other is to provide something people will pay for, excel, and get known - which also involves some sales and PR, or marketing, but depending on your profession can be going through the speaker circuits at conferences, writing a blog or some other way to convey expertise, or getting writeups for your product somehow, if it's B2C - see Paul Graham on why he hired a PR:
http://www.paulgraham.com/submarine.html