What are the biggest lessons you have learned in the corporate world?

Read few answers. Found them all wrong, so I am writing the answer. I don't mean to disrespect the other answers, but this world would have been a far better place had people known the difference between facts and views. All the other answers giving views. And I an just presenting the facts. You can blindly take these facts, but the views please take it with a pinch of salt.

Here are the few things, which you must know before starting your journey in ANY corporation, in ANY part of the world:

Corporation aren’t Startup. And for any corporation to end up like startup is failure. A startup wants to be corporation. Not the other way around.Corporations are well-oiled machinery which has survived the test of time. They have developed their work ethics, and work-culture at the very beginning. And have adapted it with changing times. For any corporation, survival in ever changing market conditions, is utmost important. Take this case study for reference: A firm called The Coca-Cola Company, which basically sells sugarated water, is still running for more than a century in every nook and corner of the world, while a country with deepest oil reserve, Iraq is in shambles. How do you explain it? Simple poor management.You are being paid well enough. If you think you are not being paid well enough, then check the market yourself. Give interviews and see what your competitor firm are offering you for your skill. For any skill wage rate are fixed, nevertheless which firm you join. If money is all what drives you, then please change your skill first. You can get the information on skill and their wage rate from Upwork. First earn that skill, and then start looking for the job in that skill.Never bitch about your firm. Or your Ex-firm. ‘Coz it is like shooting yourself in the foot. Every corporation shares its quarterly results. It is your firms report card. That result tells how your firm is performing. You directly affect the result by sharing your views on public platform. Your badmouthing simply affect the sales performance of your firm. And thus its quaterly result and eventually its share price value. Hence impacting your annual hike and bonus. Never badmouth your firm, at the end you will be only hurting your own hike, or your ex-colleagues hike.If you see something is wrong within the firm, instead of blabbering all over internet, please contact your corporate governance body. Every established firm has one. They are very matured and learned unit. Corporations take it very seriously. In fact your boss would have landed in the very job, only after their consent. Check your organization’s knowledge warehouse. Read and understand the bylaws of corporate governance, and abide by it.Apart from performing your job to its expectation, your job should always be to make sure your team grow. If you instead of trying to make your superior grow, you try to dethrone them, only to take their place. Then you are absolutely doing disservice to your firm. If your team doesn’t grow, that’s certain you will never grow. Those who sit at the top, they wouldn’t say a word, but they notice everything very closely. Then, don’t ask, why instead of being top performer, you didn’t get promoted. ‘Coz right there they had found you.You are being measured each and every moment. Whenever in conversation with senior executives of your firm. Be accurate in your conversation. Senior executives don’t talk much. They will give you all the freedom to act, and behave as much as you like. But mind you, they are noticing you very very closely. They observer things, and then act. It is a lie, if anyone tells you, that you have to market yourself to grow. Those who are sitting on top aren’t idiot. They reflect themselves as one. Because they are trained & conditioned to do so. It ensures anyone can reach out to them, via open-door-policy. But, their actions are always razor sharp. Never take your interactions with Senior executives lightly, nevertheless how cool they appear - they are basically trying to measure you.Before joining any firm, don’t ask for how much money they will offer. Check more for their work culture. Only a matured professional knows, money anyone will offer as per existing market rate. But work culture is unique to every firm. Rule of thumb, if your salary is already in 6-fig per month, dig more for work culture. Do they offer tele-work, or do they micromanage everything.

You can also consider these things below:
Reputation matters. This sounds very obvious, but many people make mistakes that taint their reputation within the company and sometimes even in the industry that they are working in. A poorly written social media post and email, or not thinking before speaking during meetings and interactions with colleagues can diminish your chances of getting promoted. Just think about how much Donal Trump affected the market with one tweet.
Your colleagues are not your friends. Just because you are playing on the same team, it doesn’t mean that you are now best friends. The corporate world gets competitive, and when higher titles and pay start to come into play, those around you can quickly become your worst enemies. It’s unfortunate, but true. See what happens to your best friend colleagues when you get promoted to be their manager.
You are not as valuable as you think. It boggles my mind when I see low performing employees complain about how they are not getting compensated enough. Based on my experience, it’s usually those with low EQ that say this. Perhaps it’s lack of self-awareness? Another side to this point is a personal story. I strive to be a high performer, and when I was younger, I would think “this company would fail without me.” HA! When I left, the company did perfectly fine. I found that I am easily replaceable in a big company.
High performers will get recognition, and those who display the best attitude will get promoted. People spend 40+ hours a week at work. Yes, if you perform at a high level, you will be compensated because you will affect the bottom line. However, if you have a crappy attitude while you do it, you will either get let go, or get stuck in the same position. Who wants to be led by a boss with a crappy attitude? But those with awesome attitudes are loved by their colleagues, bosses, and other members of the company. And if they are high performers AND they have an amazing attitude? Winner. This is why they say EQ is a good measurement of success.
Some people make their jobs harder than it really needs to be. I am not sure if it is the perception that corporate jobs have to be challenging or if some people just want to be buried in unnecessary busy work, but A LOT of people waste time doing unnecessary tasks. It’s unreal. All these meetings without a clear purpose and with the wrong invitees, just running with a task instead of thinking about how to complete it strategically in an efficient manner, or even simply not asking the question - “why do I have to do this and why are we doing it this way?” I am also guilty of doing these things at times. It’s silly once you become aware of them.

Related link:
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-biggest-lessons-you-have-learned-in-the-corporate-world?share=9e844d89&srid=3NiTO