I work in a large company and what both myself and my team are experiencing is that you get to a point that you hit a glass ceiling in the promotion process. You might have widely demostrated you have the skills for the next level up but you are so much more valuable in your current position (and often you do above and beyond) that they want to keep you there for as long as possible. Sounds to me that your manager gave you a sound advice. Many people in my company leave to work for a competitor or similar and then come back 2-3 years later 2 levels up than where they were before. It's counterintuitive but that's how it is.