Some people, the luck ones, thrive on responsibility.  Successful people are easily divided, in fact into two groups, the lions and foxes, a distinction cleverly made by Michael Maccoby in The Games Man.  The lions are natural leaders, responsible, powerful, aggressive and courageous and confidently at ease in the ways of their group.  The foxes are cunning, sly, quick and usually rather poor at group thinking, though they may have to feign a respect for the group.  At the very highest levels, men sometimes combine the virtues of the lion and the fox to some degree.

The lions are natural responsibility takers, the foxes attempt to achieve success without taking on any more responsibility than they have to.  The lions move directly, the foxes indirectly.  The lions take stands, the foxes make compromises.  Ultimately the ambition of every fox is to become a lion, and the secret of every successful person is to combine both qualities in the right proportions.

Lion or fox, you will sooner or later have to accept responsibility if you're going to be a success. If you're a born lion, it's no problem: you crave responsibility and aren't afraid of it. Your only fear is that you won't get enough, that you may have to share it or have it circumscribed. When you get a promotion, you look for the maximum amount of autonomy and try to enlarge the area of your responsibilities.

Most people avoid responsibility (thereby restricting themselves to menial jobs), or approach a new and more important position by attempting to limit their area of responsibility and spread the decision-making process among as many people as possible.

If your first question on getting a promotion is "Who do I go to for a final decision?" you need training in being a lion. Your aim should be to take on as much responsibility as you can handle, you will quickly find out for yourself what the limits are when you run into conflict with your colleagues.

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