Tours of Duty

Deliberately rotate through different functions to build executive readiness

Carilu Dietrich
How to achieve hypergrowth in your business and career

Tours of Duty

"I thought CMOs had to do every function, so I took a tour of duty in every function in marketing, but really getting a sense for other departments... Taking on other responsibilities gave me insights into other departments that made me more successful, early in my career and later on." - Carilu Dietrich

What It Is

A deliberate career strategy where you temporarily take on responsibilities outside your primary function to build the cross-functional understanding required for executive leadership.

The concept comes from Carilu's observation that C-suite roles are fundamentally about "how the system works"—not just excelling in one domain. To understand the system, you need to have experienced multiple parts of it.

This isn't about becoming a generalist who's mediocre at everything. It's about building T-shaped expertise: deep in your function, but with meaningful experience across others.

How It Works

The Executive Insight

C-suite jobs require understanding how the entire business operates:

  • How does finance work?
  • What are engineering's constraints?
  • What drives sales success?
  • How does product development actually happen?

You can't effectively lead in the C-suite if you only understand your own domain. Every decision has cross-functional implications.

How Tours of Duty Work

Opportunistic Tours

  • A department head leaves → volunteer to be the interim
  • A project needs cross-functional leadership → raise your hand
  • A product launch needs coordination → moonlight in that role

Example from Carilu: Early in her career as a PR manager, her company lost a head of product right before a major launch. She "volunteered to moonlight in the product department and run the beta, and do release engineering."

Structured Tours

  • Request a rotation to another function for 6-12 months
  • Take on a "stretch assignment" that requires working in a different domain
  • Join cross-functional task forces or project teams

Learning Tours

  • Shadow other department leaders
  • Attend their team meetings
  • Understand their metrics, challenges, and decision-making processes

The Tesla Factory Example

A tour guide at the Tesla factory told Carilu: "I delivered and stocked all these different parts at the plant and then I would take a list. And after work every night, I'd go to each part of the plant and try to figure out what they were working on and what the challenges and opportunities were. And that's how I moved up."

This is a tour of duty in miniature—systematically learning how every part of the organization works.

How to Apply It

  1. Map the territories you don't understand

    • Which departments feel like black boxes?
    • Where do your initiatives fail because you don't understand dependencies?
    • What questions can't you answer about how the business works?

  2. Find your entry points

    • What's understaffed or struggling?
    • What projects need cross-functional coordination?
    • Who's going on leave that you could cover for?

  3. Volunteer strategically

    • Don't just do extra work—do work that expands your perspective
    • Prioritize functions that directly interact with your goals
    • Look for temporary assignments, not permanent career pivots

  4. Document what you learn

    • How does this function measure success?
    • What are their biggest challenges?
    • What do they need from your function that they're not getting?

  5. Build relationships along the way

    • Tours of duty create allies in other departments
    • These relationships pay dividends throughout your career

When to Use It

  • You're ambitious about reaching executive leadership
  • You've maxed out learning in your current function
  • You keep being surprised by cross-functional dependencies
  • An opportunity appears (someone leaves, project needs help)
  • You're being considered for broader roles but lack the experience

The Trade-Off

Tours of duty require time and energy beyond your core job. Carilu is explicit about this: building an executive career requires working harder—"two hours every day for five years" beyond her peers in one case.

This isn't for everyone, and that's okay. But if executive leadership is your goal, cross-functional experience is table stakes.

Source

  • Guest: Carilu Dietrich
  • Episode: "How to achieve hypergrowth in your business and career"
  • Key Discussion: (00:05:59) - Carilu describes moonlighting in product during a crisis and (00:08:38) - the Tesla factory story
  • YouTube: Watch on YouTube

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