I really enjoy this question (not a dumb question at all), and have been dwelling on it for quite some time personally. I'm not currently a VP/CTO, but I am actively pursuing that path.
Of course there is no "one right way" to make it to that level; the VP-IT at some multinational financial institution is a different animal than the CTO of some bay area SaaS startup. There are some comments on this thread that really speak to that; the anecdotes we carry from our own experiences point to a very small collection of paths to a VP/CTO-type job when of course the big picture is a hodge-podge of different routes to leadership.
So here is my "broad strokes" approach, because I'd like to be a VP/CTO one day, but I'm not 100% settled on an industry or company profile and I do firmly believe that the following skills are fundamental to being a leader in technology:
1. Empathy - the most undervalued skill in engineering. Looking for something to set you apart from most of your colleagues? Learn how to be an empathic human being! As your career ages, the people you've worked with will start to occupy increasingly senior roles in their respective companies and that will be an advantage to you - but only if those people look back at your relationship with fondness. It's not about who you know, it's about how you treat the people that you do know. Empathy is also fundamental to many of the other points brought up on this thread: knowing the right people, building relationships with clients, leading a team, etc.
2. Technical Articulation - As a CTO/VP in a technical field, you not only need to know the technical aspects of the business, you will need to be able to communicate those things to non technical people. It is not enough to be technically competent, you must also be compelling. This is also something that must be practiced; you must go out and talk about technical things to non technical people.
3. Business Perspective - Along with empathy, the thing I see lacking in the vast majority of engineers is the perspective of business. There are so many great engineers out there with a M.S. in C.S. who simply don't understand why certain business decisions are made; you must have this perspective to survive at a level higher than "contributor". This is also where a higher level understanding of scale is hugely important.
For my part, I try to frame my career path around those 3 areas. Any decision I make should be aimed at bolstering one of those 3 competencies, and anything that detracts from those should be devalued. When you start to weigh decisions in light of those competencies then I think you'll be on the right track.
Of course, the quickest way to become a VP is to start your own business and give yourself that title. (Honestly, this is not a horrible strategy and considering the vast majority of businesses out there are small shops, then that means the vast majority of technical leaders got to their position more-or-less in this manner.)