It isn't luck - never leave your career to chance

If you study the most successful people in your company, or within the industry, then you realise it probably isn't luck.  They are the sort of people who were always destined for the top because they make things happen. To draw a parallel from sport, building a career is a bit like a round of golf.  It is a mixture of good planning and skill and plain old luck.  But you know that the very best will ride their luck and will always be better than the average. And not just because they are better players, but because they have the skill and mindset to put things right when they go wrong. In days gone by the market placed much more premium on employees who were loyal and who learned their trade over a period of time.  Today the market is much more results orientated and just by sitting in an organisation will not guarantee promotion. So instead of waiting for your dream vacancy to appear, you need to make something happen for yourself. In any case, waiting to fill dead man's shoes was never the greatest of career strategies.  Relying purely on internal vacancies is fine, but you still need to stand out from the internal competition. So have a plan, make yourself useful, deliver what you say you will, manage your boss properly. If you think differently and create your own opportunities, you do not necessarily have to compete with anybody.