Director, manager or direct reporting line may not be the optimal at all times and that will slow down your career. Need to build your network and navigate politics to ensure you are placed at a nursery ground and not a burial.
The ability ton contribute and truly affect change is extremely conditioned by the direct report ability to run risks and take the leap of trust. The glass ceiling is there when you have direct reporting line up that is less developed than the talent they direct. Make sure you don't end up under a boss that is less experienced, less academically educated, and less eager to risk transformational bold moves, than you are. It may otherwise become very painful. And it happens.