283: You need a sponsor, not another mentor.
You probably have a mentor. Can you name your sponsor?
The difference matters.
A mentor gives you advice. A sponsor spends political capital on your behalf.
They put their reputation on the line in rooms you’re not in. They say your name when opportunities come up. They advocate as much as you advise.
Mentors are easy to find. Most large organisations have a programme to help you find one.
Sponsors are rarer and sometimes hard to find. Most career advice conflates the two, which means people spend years collecting feedback they don’t act on, while missing the relationships that actually shift things.
Sponsors are harder to develop because they require something mentors don’t. Not gratitude. Proof.
A sponsor puts their reputation on the line when they back you. They won’t do that on potential alone. They need evidence that you won’t make them look foolish.
You can’t ask for a sponsor. You have to become worth one. That means doing work that travels beyond your immediate scope or team. Solving problems that matter to people with influence, not just problems that matter to you. And being the kind of person whose wins are easy for others to repeat in a room.
This impact becomes your currency.
Most people wait to be noticed. Sponsors back people who’ve already made themselves hard to ignore.
The first step is not finding a sponsor. It’s asking an honest question: what am I currently doing that would make someone want to put their name behind me?
If the answer is unclear, that’s where to start.
Who in your organisation has the influence to move your career forward, and what are you doing that makes you worth the risk?
The Stuff
- Doing things that scare you
- The most important skills for the future.
- How to trick your brain into doing something you’re avoiding.
- Remote Working do's and don'ts
- Do What You Are Doing.
- Four principles of productivity
Finally. Crossflip. A clever word game that will keep you engaged over a coffee today.
Member discussion