This is quite true and I give an example in my company: we had about one year ago a new boss. Part of my colleagues approached it by fawning and flattering him, I chose to be more neutral and prove myself through my skills and one of my colleagues rejected him saying to his face that we are here to work and not play games (my boss is lazy and disconnected from what we do).

Now guess who was fired? I survived playing Switzerland, but I am not sure in the next wave.