A lot of people have posited that a person should always dress for the job they want to have, rather than the job that they already do have. And while this is a great way to gain respect for how well you take care of yourself (as well as how well you are expressing that you are a social climber), this is often not the case when it comes to how an employee is actually promoted. Have you ever considered that in a lot of cases, a person ends up doing so well in one job that they are promoted into a job that may be in the same department, but is completely different from their core competencies. And all too often, this promotion is right smack into being miserable on the job.
Consider what happens all too often when a sales person does extremely well and makes a lot of sales. They are usually then promoted into a position as a sales manager, which makes sense when you first think about it. After all, who could know better how to keep sales people performing at their best than a top performer would? But then, when you think about it a little bit more closely, you realize that a sales manager is nothing like a sales person- they are an administrator, which is a completely different set of duties suited to a completely different personality type.
The sad part is, this is nowhere near confined just to sales. It also happens to medical staff. Consider what happens when a doctor or a nurse shows that they are extremely competent in their field. All too often, they are promoted into a desk job where instead of helping patients, they are helping to make the schedules of other medical staff. Has there ever been a bigger waste of an advanced degree and a desire to do something positive? If so, it is a very well kept secret.