Find A Mentor \u2013 Sylvia Ann Hewlett<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I now understood that climbing the ladder in any competitive field required heavy-duty support from a senior person with heft and influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So I finally got it\u2013sponsorship, that is. I did my utmost to never again let it go. My career journey was complicated (more on that in the final chapter). But from here on out, I knew that if I was going to amount to anything, I needed powerful sponsors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you\u2019re interested in fast-tracking your career, in getting that next hot assignment or making more money, what you need is a sponsor. Sponsors give advice and guidance, but they also come through on much more important fronts. In particular they:<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is this kind of heavy lifting that distinguishes a sponsor from a mentor. The data that underpins this book shows that sponsorship has a measureable impact on career progression. Men and women with sponsors are much more likely to rise up through the ranks and hang on to their ambition. Sponsors-unlike mentors- give you serious traction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But one of things I\u2019ve done well\u2013and I don\u2019t know that it\u2019s conscious\u2013is that I\u2019ve always made my boss look good. All the people I\u2019ve worked for will tell you, \u201cI like having Pat around, because I know she\u2019s got my back.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cDo your job well, make sure your boss is fully informed, and don\u2019t be afraid to ask for help,\u201d she explains. \u201cThat is how you build the trust vital to any long-term professional relationship.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPat was someone you could absolutely count on to the right things,\u201d Burke told me. \u201cShe wasn\u2019t intimidated by projects or people, and she didn\u2019t play politics. I knew her motivations at all times\u2013and that made her 100% trustworthy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
After two years of exhaustive inquiry, I can tell you why: high-potential women have mentors but lack sponsors. They fail to cultivate strategic alliances with individuals capable of propelling them into leadership positions and protecting them from other contenders. Often, like Marina, they have would-be advocates, senior-level leaders who\u2019ve taken note for their capabilities. But they don\u2019t know how to turbocharge these relationships. They don\u2019t understand the quid pro quo, the mutual investment that ensures both parties remain incentivized to help each other over the long run. So, like Marina, they put their heads down, work harder, and wait, hoping that their mentors and role models will see to their success.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Don\u2019t get me wrong: mentors matter. You absolutely need them. But they\u2019re not your ticket to the tops. Mentors give, whereas sponsors invest.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A sponsor, as we shall explore, is also someone who takes an interest in you and your career, but not our of altruism or like-mindedness. A sponsor sees furthering your career as an important investment in his or her own career, organization, or vision. Sponsors may advise or steer you, but their chief role is to develop you as a leader. Your role is to earn their investment in you. Indeed, throughout the relationship, you\u2019re delivering outstanding results, building their brand or legacy, and generally making sure that whatever dividends you realize in the way of promotions, pay raises, or plum assignments are manifestly dividends that you earned. Sponsorship, done right, is transactional. It\u2019s an implicit or even explicit strategic alliance, a long-range quid pro quo. But provided you\u2019re giving as good as you\u2019re getting, there\u2019s nothing about this dynamic that warrants distaste. Sponsorship isn\u2019t favoritism or politics; it doesn\u2019t rig the game. On the contrary, it ensures you get what you\u2019ve worked for and deserve.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Dougan credits his ascent to his boss, to whom he reported for nearly twenty years, not because he made it easy for Dougan, but because he made it hard. \u201cI became the person he gave the toughest assignments to, the things that needed fixing,\u201d Dougan observes. \u201cHe piled on the responsibilities. But because he believed in me-because he was clearly betting on me and giving me a leg up-I felt I owed him a lot and should do whatever he asked and come through with whatever he needed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
What is a sponsor? <\/strong>Delivers high-octane advocacy<\/p>\n\n\n\n A sponsor is a senior leader who, at a minimum:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n And comes through on at least two of the following fronts:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n What prot\u00e9g\u00e9s do, in a word, is deliver.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n To position themselves for the top job, prot\u00e9g\u00e9s must therefore contribute something the leader prizes but may intrinsically lack: gender smarts or cultural fluency on a team that lacks diversity\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just as your sponsor is someone who supports you when you\u2019re not in the room, so too much you protect him or her from employee gossip, fro harsh outsiders opinion, even from collegial criticisms. \u201cWho do you want in your bunker?\u201d an African-American executive at Johnson & Johnson asked me in an interview, \u201ca loyal comrade-in-arms who, if you turn your back, guns for you, not at you.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n What this means is that the nature of your support relationships is up to you.<\/em> If you\u2019re a high-potential or strong performer, you\u2019ll attract the interest of your superiors, but whether that interest translates into mentorship or sponsorship is a function of your investment. You might be tapped for development, but you\u2019re not going to be given a ride on the coattails of anyone who doesn\u2019t see you pulling your weight (and then some). Mentors may pick you, but you <\/em>pick your sponsors by committing yourself to their best interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just how important prot\u00e9g\u00e9s are to their sponsors was made clear in a conversation I had with a Fortune 100 CEO. He told me that when he does that final interview with an executive at his company who is being considered for a promotion to the C-suite, he asks the all-important questions: \u201cHow many people do you have in your pocket?\u201d What he means by this, he explains, \u201cHow many talented young people have you sponsored over the years\u2013people who now hold key positions in this company\u00ad\u2013so that if I asked you to do something impossible next week that involved liaising across seven geographies and five functions, you could pull it off? How many leaders out there \u201cowe you one,\u201d think you\u2019re wonderful, and would give you huge priority to your project?\u201d Fundamentally, he told me, \u201cI\u2019m not interested in anyone who doesn\u2019t have deep pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n So have that bench strength and you will go far, as far as you make clear you want to go (you need a destination in mind, as discussed in part II). Don\u2019t wait to be tapped for special projects or asked to assume a leadership role. Act like a leader, and leaders will take you under their wings. Show vision, and visionaries will invite you to do more of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Do you have a vision for yourself? A clear pictures of your career destination? Do you know what success\u2013your success\u2013will look and fee like? Executive coach Gail Blanke suggests that anyone contemplating an arduous undertaking remember Walt Disney\u2019s advice to executives planning the Magic Kingdom: build the castle first. <\/em>Back in 1971 when he was spearheading that first theme park, he understood that everyone involved in achieving his\u2013from the Madison Avenues ad men selling it to the guys hacking their way through the mosquito-infested Florida swamp\u2013needed literally to see the majesty and the beauty of this vision, lest they forget what they were working toward. So the first thing to rear up out of the Orlando swamp was, in fact, Disney\u2019s castle, which, with it\u2019s fluttering flags and soaring gilded turrets, was the very embodiment of the magic he intended to make. It worked wonders, lifting morale, enhancing performance. As Blanke observes, \u201cnothing really big, really bold, or really beautiful was ever created in a country, in a company, in a family, or in a life without vision-a vision so powerful that people will work miracles to bring it to life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Once you\u2019ve honed in on a would-be sponsor, do not ask for sponsorship. Rather, show what makes you worth sponsoring or describe what you can bring to their team or project.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When scanning your horizon for would-be sponsors (yes, you\u2019ll need more than one), bear in mind that the best candidates are very likely not going to be people with whom you\u2019d want to share your innermost secrets. They may not even be leaders you hugely admire. Rather, the best candidates are people in a position to get you where you\u2019re keen on going\u2013people inside or outside your company who have clout in the circle you aspire to join or influence in the community you\u2019re eager to embrace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Our data and our interviews show that many high-potential women make the mistake of aligning themselves with role models rather than powerfully positioned sponsors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Would be sponsors in large organizations are ideally two levels above you, with line of sight into your performance and your career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Building your portfolio of sponsors means increasing the number of arenas in which you play a leadership role. Your job isn\u2019t a big enough stage to put you on the radar of powerful individuals outside your team, department, or division. If you work for a large company, as many or our focus group participants do, volunteer for formal mentoring program as a mentor, because a conspicuous role in any leadership development program invariable makes you visible to a wide range of high-level managers across divisions. Consider taking a leading role in an employee network or affinity group. If you\u2019re not already participating, here\u2019s a perfect example of why to get involved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n What sponsors are looking for, above all, in a prot\u00e9g\u00e9 is someone who will deliver standout performance and be loyal and reliable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Get the word out on your success. Since it can be difficult to brag about yourself, work with peers to sing each other\u2019s praises. A vice president at Merrill Lynch describes how she and three other women, all up-and-coming leaders but in different divisions of the firm, met monthly for lunch to update each other on their projects and accomplishments. The idea was to be ready to talk positively about each other, should an occasion arise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Her boss, a West Point graduate, has worked with her to break a pattern she\u2019s repeated her entire career: what she calls \u201cpermanent lieutenant syndrome.\u201d\u2026In CTI\u2019s data set, permanent lieutenancy turns out to be frighteningly typical\u2026unless you have decades to spare, you\u2019ll need a different strategy. You\u2019ll need to differentiate yourself, not to win sponsorship, necessarily, but absolutely to leverage it to your own ends. You\u2019ll need to identify, develop, and deploy a personal brand. Or you\u2019ll wind up fulfilling your sponsor\u2019s ambitions instead of your own.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNext time,\u201d he urged, \u201cjust say yes. You can save the caveats for when you\u2019ve gotten the job.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n It bears repeating: just say yes. Hold back on sharing your reservations until you\u2019re in a position to negotiate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When they throw a stretch assignment or a fear-inducing opportunity at you, they want to gauge your attitude, a critical component of the loyalty they value so highly, and not your ability, which they\u2019ve already assessed. CTI research shows that 57% of sponsors value a can-do attitude in their prot\u00e9g\u00e9s; 44% agreed that prot\u00e9g\u00e9s should deliver 110%. Yet among prot\u00e9g\u00e9s, only 32% say they \u201clead with a yes.\u201d A great many women, and at least some men, inadvertently dim their prospects for advancement or opportunity by failing to demonstrate their commitment first, their reservations later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Minority professors who have sponsors are 65% more likely to feel satisfied with their rate of advancement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Katherine Phillps \u2013 Paul Calello Professor of Leadership and Ethics at Columbia Business School, has women numerous awards for her insights into leadership development and team management<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat was one tough discussion,\u201d Hui Zhong laughs, recollecting hat her initial reaction was to feel like a total failure. But in hindsight, she sees that counsel from her sponsor as a defining moment in her career. \u201cNow I step up and say \u2018Okay, we\u2019re not going to talk about this anymore. Here\u2019s the decision I\u2019ve come to, and here\u2019s why.\u2019 It could be be the wrong decision. I\u2019ve made those, every leader has. But at least you\u2019re making it. And that<\/em>,\u201d she adds, \u201cis what marks you as someone others will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Whether you work on Wall Street or in Silicon Valley, how you act (gravitas), how you speak (communication), and how you look (appearance) count for a lot in determining your leadership presence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While all three pillars contribute to EP, they don\u2019t contribute equally. Gravitas provides the real heft, according to 67% of the 268 senior executives we surveyed, more salient than either communication (28%) or appearance (5%).<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most important of these, we discovered, is the first. \u201cGrace under fire.\u201d This amounts to keeping your cool no matter how much heat you\u2019re subjected to\u2026exuding confidence is something any good actor can manage, but projecting credibility as well as confidence as you\u2019re riding out a crisis is truly the mark or a leader\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n Today as the founding president of the Center for Talent Innovation and chair of the Task Force for Talent Innovation, I (the author) lead a private-sector consortium of some seventy-five global companies committed to changing the face of leadership around the world.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Find A Mentor \u2013 Sylvia Ann Hewlett Introduction I now understood that climbing the ladder in any competitive field required heavy-duty support from a senior person with heft and influence. So I finally got it\u2013sponsorship, that is. I did my utmost to never again let it go. My career journey was complicated (more on that […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4017,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[238,6,253,140,255,7,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-booknotes","category-career","category-communication-storytelling","category-culture","category-dei","category-development","category-relationships"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4016"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4485,"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4016\/revisions\/4485"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.mattwkane.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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Part 2: Road Map for Prot\u00e9g\u00e9s<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Part 3: Pitfalls and Trip Wires<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Epilogue<\/h2>\n\n\n\n