[giantg2]

The squeaky wheel gets the grease (or raise).

Policies only matter if the people in power want them the matter. If they like you, they will break policy to benefit you (like early promotions). If you're not their favorite, they will break policy to your detriment (like basing your review on points completed after telling you not to record a bunch of work in stories throughout the year).

That you don't need to actually improve to be promoted. Being a 'yes man' is the easiest way to get promoted.

[vmception]

You can also walk out of pointless meetings if they like you

[giantg2]

That hasn't really happened at my company. They say it but it's tricky to do. If you don't do it right, they think you're pompous or something.

[lostcolony]

The trick is not to show up at all. Most pointless meetings have too many participants. Meetings with fewer than 5 people tend to actually matter. Not 100%, but that's the trend. So the majority of pointless meetings you just...don't attend. It's incredibly rare for anyone to ask where you were, and if they do, have an excuse. "Outlook must not have popped up the notification for me", "I had a conflict", etc.

If outside of that you suspect it's going to be pointless, dial in. That way even if you can't just walk out, you can do something else.