Women Get Mentored; Men Get Sponsored

Every businesswoman knows how important it is to have a mentor. What many don’t know is how important it is to have a sponsor. A sponsor? Is that different from a mentor? The answer is yes—and having a sponsor as well as mentors can make a big difference in your career.

So what exactly IS the difference? A mentor is someone who dispenses wisdom —someone you can turn to for advice. They generally know the in’s and out’s of the department, the company or the industry in which you are working. They understand the politics and how to work them. Mentors are valuable!

A sponsor, on the other hand, is someone who can change the trajectory of your career. When I worked at Salomon Brothers in the mid-‘80s, we called them “rabbis.” Rabbis were those with power, influence, and organizational clout who could not only help us navigate our careers—they could change the trajectory of them. They would make sure that our names were floated for a plum client assignment or speak up on our behalf at the year-end compensation meeting. They made sure our promotions stayed on track. And because they were putting their neck on the line for us, they had to really believe in us—we were, in essence, their protégés.

Women need more than just mentors; we need sponsors. A recent Harvard Business Review article entitled “Why Men Still Get More Promotions than Women” discusses mentors and sponsors in detail. In the article, Herminia Ibarra, Nancy Carter, and Christin Silva point out that the problem isn’t lack of mentors for women—we’re being mentored to death. 21% of women say they’ve had 4 or more mentors compared to 15% for men. So why aren’t women being promoted more? One reason is that mentors for men and women are often not created equal –78% of men were actively mentored by the CEO or another senior executive in the company compared with 69% of the women. And the men were more apt to have a sponsor who advocated for their careers rather than just a mentor. The problem is that women are being over-mentored and under-sponsored.

So, what’s the answer? There are actions that women can take and others that need to be taken by their companies. For our part, we need to be more like the guys when it comes to sponsorship—actively covet it. Find someone influential who you connect with to act as your sponsor. When it’s done right, both sponsor and sponsee will pick each other. In addition, companies can be more deliberate about their mentoring programs so that mentors chosen for high potential women are senior enough to wield clout and are aware that they are acting on behalf of their mentee when it comes to career progression.

So whether you use the word sponsor, rabbi, or even mentor, be sure that you are getting the real deal—and get ready for your career to take off.

By Erin Wolf