Climbing the corporate ladder can be a long and tiresome ascent, but it doesn’t have to be. We often put in late nights and early mornings, throwing our work-life balance out of whack to hit higher and higher numbers each month. While proving your worth to a company by championing your department might excel your career within that realm, branching out in the executive tier will take a different set of skills.

Michelle Stacy knows first hand how to jump the ranks and claim your spot in the C-suite. After her initial breakthrough into an executive position from a role as Vice President of Marketing, she has led some of America’s most notable brands like Keurig and Gillette. In her interview with Brightline’s Whitney Johnson, Stacy talks about the challenges of making the corporate breakthrough and gives advice on how to best approach it. She complies her experience into 4 main principles to help anyone make their way to the top.

Broaden your experience.

You may be the expert in your department, but companies need leaders who are well-rounded and able to understand the needs of all departments. Stacy started her journey to the C-suit as the Vice President of Marketing for Gillette. While her experience in Marketing was stellar, she realized she didn’t understand the rest of the company’s ins and outs.

She wanted to explore the sales department and gain the skills needed to excel in that area of the company as well, knowing if she was able to do this she would be able to lead the company with everyone’s best interest in mind.

Develop and propose a plan.

Michelle Stacy took this idea to the next level. She developed a plan that would take her from the top of the Marketing department to the bottom of the sales department. She wanted to experience the company from the ground up.

Stacy approached the leaders of Gillette with a proposition for a pathway to leadership. She would start as an entry-level sales representative and over 18 months work her way through 3 different sales positions. She wanted to learn the department in and out to better herself in her marketing role and eventually prepare her for an executive leadership role. When you present it to your leadership team make sure you highlight how this program will make you a stronger asset to your company.

Be flexible.

Since this type of internal movement isn’t something a company sees every day, you may need to be flexible. When crafting your personal growth program, Stacy says to give a broad time range. Some companies may love the idea and want you to really soak it in, giving you a full year of exploration. While others may need you in your current role and ask you to take 6 months to learn other departments.

Since you are creating this opportunity for yourself you can look at it as a blank canvas. Get a team of decision-makers together to workshop the idea and find something that benefits everyone. Stacy says companies who truly care about growing their employees will look at your initiative as a desirable quality and want to help make this happen for you.

Agree to a path back and a path upward.

Stacy stresses when you make this downward move, you have to be confident you’ll excel in your role. If you lower your ranks to learn more and end up being a burden to that team, it may look bad to the higher-ups. Make sure you’re signing yourself up for something you know you’ll do well.

Be sure to also have a path back to your role clearly outlined in your agreement with the company. If they have to back-fill your position during your exploration make sure it is temporarily filled and waiting for you when you return, older and wiser.

But returning to your old role isn’t enough. Since the point of this lateral move is to broaden your scope of the company enough to excel past your department, be upfront with leadership about your goal. Let them know you are doing this to gain perspective that will help grow the company and try to get a guarantee of the promotion before going into your exploratory phase as long as certain deliverables are hit.

After Stacy spent time in Gillette’s sales department she found she acquired a new skill set and a new dimension to her personality that made her a stronger leader. In marketing, she says she had the luxury of being an introvert, but once she broke into sales she developed a gregarious, animated side of herself that made her more approachable.

Stacy moved up from VP of Marketing to VP of Marketing for the United States, and from there she only grew. She ended up as Vice President of Global Business Management for Gillette, and later the President of Keurig. She believes she owes her success to this first move that took her out of her comfort zone and helped her grow into a leader.

Watch the full interview here: