How to Find Great Mentors and Sponsors

Idea

Three important, yet distinct, relationships that you will have in your professional career:

Advisor: Anybody in your environment that has the necessary intellect and experience to answer a discreet question for you.

Mentor: The person in your career that you can tell the good, the bad, and the ugly. Someone that you trust and who knows you very well. Not necessarily someone within your organization, but they understand the context that you work in to be able to give tailored advice

Sponsor: You will not ascend in any organization without a sponsor. This is someone you tell the good, the good, and the good because they are the person who is “carrying your paper into the room”, the person who, behind closed doors, is spending their valuable political and social capital on you. You need to be able to articulate why you are worthy of their investment.

A strong sponsor fits these three criteria:

1. Internal to your environment.
2. Has a seat at the decision-making table.
3. Has the juice or power to get it done on your behalf behind closed doors.

Action

Answer the question: Who is carrying my paper into the room?

In other words, if there were a big decision to be made about who might get the next promotion or opportunity, who might advocate passionately on my behalf that I ought to get that chance?

If you can’t answer that question, your next assignment is to identify two people that you think fit that profile and begin to start a relationship with them.