Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor

But constraints needn’t be the first thing discussed when an opportunity is gleaming on the table

Storey demonstrated her stellar performance and commitment by:

Delivering outstanding bottom-line results
Hitting targets and deadlines
Displaying an impressive work ethic and availability

Be that someone: signal you’ll be a contributor. Show you’ll overdeliver. Deliver exceptional performance and prove yourself eminently trustworthy.

Mentees expect to be guided; they wait passively to be helped. When they’re given a good steer or an open door, they perceive it as a gift rather than a debt. They persist in seeing themselves as standout performers who deserve a good turn to get them on their way, stellar employees who owe no one because they’ve earned their place in the sun.

senior leader is going to place huge bets on anybody who doesn’t assure him some kind of payback. What sponsors are looking for, above all, in a protégé is someone who will deliver standout performance and be loyal and reliable.

At the same time, explain what you are looking for in the way of advocacy: introductions to other department heads, stretch opportunities within your own division, lateral moves to gain experience or promotions. Suggest that an alliance can work to your mutual benefit.

Approach a target sponsor and suggest collaborating on a project of interest to that person. “Be super-prepared and go out of your way to make clear how much you plan on helping out with number-crunching and legwork as well new ideas,” says Columbia’s Katherine Phillips. “You’ll be surprised at how well you’ll be received, as most leaders—whatever the field or sector—are looking for ways to stay on the cutting edge, and many of them struggle with huge time constraints. Coleading a project or coauthoring an article with an eminence can make all the difference to your career.”

Attend networking events, conferences, and extracurricular or informal gatherings where you might have occasion to approach your target and introduce yourself. Be able to articulate not just who you are and what you do but your distinct value added—the hook that will spark interest and ensure you’re remembered as someone who has something to offer, rather than as someone who’s making a demand.

Friends don’t make the best sponsors. Doubtless you have friends; what you need in a sponsor is a strategic ally. Friendship can actually hinder a relationship that’s instrumental in nature.

Summers, who is perhaps best known for pointing out that women lack the intellectual wattage to be the world’s top scientists, was probably not a role model Sandberg hoped to emulate. But did he have juice? Oceans of it.