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Michael Sumruld recalls that after investing 10 of his finance career\u2013building years in oil field services giant Baker Hughes, he found a deep fog settling on the career path before him. Unlike the case with BH engineers\u2014who could always be confident of being able to place a foot on the next rung of an ever-present career ladder\u2014the climb upward for finance executives was becoming less and less visible.

Or at least such was the case for any of BH\u2019s finance rank-and-file who aspired to advance beyond the ranks of middle management.

Rather than land a more senior finance position at another company, Sumruld set out to leverage some of what his 10-year BH investment had afforded him. \xa0

\u201cIn a decade\u2019s time, I had developed relationships with different senior leaders, so I spent time with them and interviewed them to try to get a sense of what it would take to become CFO of Baker Hughes,\u201d comments Sumruld, who adds that a research document highlighting his discussions with senior leaders later would later land on the desk of BH\u2019s vice president of human resources.

Part of what the document highlighted was the different experiences and knowledge sets that finance executives can gain when they are rotated into different positions.

Says Sumruld: \u201cWe were able to put this in play\u2014not formally, but informally\u2014with a number of executives who were in my situation and had also become siloed as they had gone down a particular career path.\u201d

Along the way, Sumruld remembers, a number of his finance peers became mystified by career jumps that didn\u2019t always align with their rank or tenure within the organization.

\u201cThey\u2019d say, \u2018Mike, why are you exiting a finance VP role to become a director of IR?,\u2019\u201d recalls Sumuld, who notes that he views the director of IR role as a worthy prerequisite for any future CFO.

Ultimately, Sumruld\u2019s career with BH would end up spanning two decades, with his last 3 years spent as company treasurer\u2014a position that the CFO granted after Sumruld expressed great interest in the role. \xa0

\u201cHe gave me a shot,\u201d remarks Sumruld, who observes that the CFO was confident that if needed, his team had the bandwidth to support BH\u2019s newbie treasurer. \xa0\xa0

\u201cIt\u2019s uncomfortable to take on new roles,\u201d reports Sumruld. \u201cIt\u2019s not easy, but I think that this is what we need to do if we want to become leaders.\u201d\xa0\u2013Jack Sweeney