Depends on what you mean by success. Those who rise through the ranks tend to have a combination of ambition and ability. I've worked with plenty of great devs

Depends on what you mean by success. Those who rise through the ranks tend to have a combination of ambition and ability. I've worked with plenty of great devs who didn't have ambition to become a lead/manager never mind a VPoE. And, I've worked with plenty who had the desire to but they didn't have the ability.