There's a lot of great specific examples in this thread but I think it all boils down to this one quality; being able to put your own ego aside.
I think what lets a developer graduate from one level to the next is realizing that your own knowledge, vision, etc. is limited and not always the right way to go. Being able to put your own desires aside and execute someone else's vision while still providing the benefit of your experience and knowledge when appropriate.
Despite being a senior dev for a while now it's something I sometimes still struggle with finding the balance on.
I agree with this to an extent, but a controlled burst of ego can sometimes signal to the rest of the business that they're deeply off-track: "I/my team are better than spending time realising this ridiculous requirement/deadline/anti-feature, and we're just not going to do it. You need to re-think this".
I don't recommend doing it too often (no-one wants a reputation for being precious or difficult), but used correctly it can be powerful.
I don't think this works in Silicon Valley. I'm a recent transplant but I've found that people here are very passive aggressive and it's always a mistake to be direct with people. Now, in NYC I never had a problem after talking to someone about a disagreement (obviously in private). But, it's just not affective in SF.
I think what lets a developer graduate from one level to the next is realizing that your own knowledge, vision, etc. is limited and not always the right way to go. Being able to put your own desires aside and execute someone else's vision while still providing the benefit of your experience and knowledge when appropriate.
Despite being a senior dev for a while now it's something I sometimes still struggle with finding the balance on.