Week 35: The Executive Sponsor

A lot of people talk about mentors and the value of having a mentor at work. Everyone can benefit from having a good mentor -- someone to get advice from and learn how best to handle different situations.

Having an advisor can be a big help throughout someone's career. In many cases, however, all a mentor can do is act as a coach and advise from the sidelines. To have a more direct impact requires something else...a sponsor.

A sponsor is someone who actively watches out for you and looks for opportunities to help you grow, to increase your visibility in the company and generally to enhance your career. A sponsor will put your name forth when people are looking for candidates and will advocate for you.

There's someone who did that for me recently, a senior executive who appointed me to co-chair an important committee. The role involves leading a cross-company team that sets direction and priorities intended to increase diversity and inclusion. This topic is important to me and I have been working to make a positive impact, but I never expected to lead the group.

Now I have increased exposure in the company and I periodically update the Board of Directors on progress. Next week, I will give a short presentation to all employees in North America as part of the quarterly Town Hall meeting (that's over 3,000 people)!

Without this man thinking of me and assigning me the role, none of this would have happened. I am very grateful that he believes in me and gave me this opportunity.

Photo by Jim Reardan on Unsplash