You don’t need to figure anything out. Everything can be converted into money. Choose as you wish.

It's not that your boss can't sweet-talk you—it's just that the money for all that coaxing eventually comes out of your own pocket.

If you work hard and he flatters you, you make 300k a year—that's the Monkey King.

If you can't work but know how to stroke his ego, you still make 300k—that's Zhu Bajie.

But if you can both work hard and sweet-talk him? That's 600k a year.

In other words, the thing you don't want to do ultimately boils down to money—money that could have been yours. So, do you want the 300k or the 600k?