Without taxonimizing, I would point in the general direction of rags-to-riches stories, which are aplenty, especially if you consider political power as riches (hitler and stalin were clearly geniuses at this). Also I think cults and cult leaders on a personal level are very good at some of these exchanges.

One specific example: I think celebrities who do "shocking things" that everybody "accidentally" finds out about exchange some "respectability" status for name recognition which they plow into their next money-making project. (e.g. what launched Paris Hilton's "career"? Might have been an accident, but with at least some celebs I think this is quite deliberate.)