Long term, I believe that your career will be largely defined by getting lucky and the rate at which you learn. I have no advice about luck, but to speed up learning I have two suggestions: work at a rapidly expanding company, and make your peers your first team.

It’s no secret that I’m not a fan of big-company HR practices.

Dave Kellogg on managers, directors and VPs.

• Managers are paid to drive results with some support.
• Directors are paid to drive results with little or no supervision (“set and forget”).
• VPs are paid to make the plan.