I believe there's two ways of rising to the top and beyond. One way is to create a persona in which all people can relate and praise to. To be able to make them feel like you're with them, and use their support as strength. You'd want to seem noble, but not necessarily perfect. This creative force would then allow people to want to seek more of you, to learn from you, and help you grow as they'd think you're all walking the same line. Beneath that character would be your life, the ambitious, driven, and sometimes egotistical true-self that some might want to discover, but ultimately never will. Like religion, popularity and the superior belief are the foundation to access the highest branch of life.
There is, however, a more determined and perhaps less complicated way of achieving position in the top spot. What makes us mortal slowly kills us in the end. All of your emotions, your feelings, senses, and even your thought-process must be reversed and stationed in a position where no act of guilt could get in. Letting go of your traumas, your need of loving someone, and the conscience of feeling guilt, will paralyze all of your emotions. It will free your body and mind from acting upon what we've been taught in society as right or wrong. You will no longer feel shame or remorse. A cold heart is the only one that can survive on the highest peak of a slippery mountain. Once you're determined, you will walk through everyone who gets in your way, through everything that might want to trip you, and through it all you will get to the top. You must be able to stomp on your competition without remorse, because they will do it to you if you let them.
Some might argue that such negativity and process is not necessary, that if you do a good job and are smart about things you will get to the top. Take a look around, look at those who are above us, and tell me they've gotten there through honesty and hard work. Our morals and ethics are only rules of society to control a more civil life. Remember that we don't know what Life is about, but if its a game you might as well play your right cards. Everyone is your enemy, and everything is your competition. Maybe Life is about testing your mind and soul for success, or maybe Life is about testing your senses for what we call "happiness". Either way, none exist without a fight, and in the end we're all alone looking for the same place.