The Sponsor Effect
How to Be a Better Leader by Investing in Others
Many people know the benefit of finding a sponsor — someone who goes beyond traditional mentorship to partner with a junior-level employee to help build their skills, advocate for them when opportunities arise, and open doors. But few realize that being a sponsor is just as important to career growth as finding one.
According to new research from economist and thought leader Sylvia Ann Hewlett, senior executives who sponsor rising talent are 53 percent more likely to be promoted than those who don't. Similarly, middle-level managers who have proteges are 167 percent more likely to be given stretch assignments. Well-chosen proteges contribute stellar performance, steadfast loyalty, and capabilities that you, the sponsor, may lack, thus increasing how fast and how far you can go.
But how do you find standout proteges, let alone develop them so that they're able to come through for you and your organization?
This book has the answers you need. Combining powerful new data and rich examples drawn from in-depth interviews with leaders from companies such as Unilever, Aetna, Blizzard Entertainment, and EY, The Sponsor Effect provides a seven-step playbook for how you can become a successful sponsor. You'll learn to:
- Identify the right mix of proteges
- Include those with differing perspectives
- Inspire your proteges and ignite their ambition
- Instruct them to develop key skill sets
- Inspect your picks for performance and loyalty
- Instigate a deal, detailing the terms of a relationship
- Invest three ways and reap the rewards
Along the way, you'll discover the enormous benefits of investing in these valuable relationships.
Harvard Business Review Press (June 18, 2019)
Praise
Named a Financial Times Business Book of the Month
"Having a sponsor can make a big difference in your career. The fact that women have less access to sponsorship is a fundamental problem. In The Sponsor Effect, Sylvia Ann Hewlett makes the smart, practical case for why all leaders should be sponsors: because it helps the next generation and it's rewarding in its own right.”
— Sheryl Sandberg, COO, Facebook; founder, LeanIn.Org and OptionB.Org
"Data driven and studded with vivid stories, this remarkable book demonstrates the enormous payoff to leaders and companies when sponsorship is done well."
— Vinay Kapoor, Americas Head of Diversity & Inclusion, BNP Paribas
"A powerful book. Hewlett does not offer a philanthropic approach to cultivating tomorrow's leaders, but instead centers this book on the value of people in the workplace and the importance of leaders investing time and resources in actualizing their talents and gifts." — Eddie Glaude, James S. McDonnell Distinguished University Professor of African American Studies, Princeton University
"Embedding sponsorship into a company's culture is key to accelerating a pipeline of leaders spanning the full spectrum of diversity. The Sponsor Effect provides a blueprint for how leaders can become standout sponsors." — Shari Slate, Vice President and Chief Inclusion and Collaboration Officer, Cisco
"At the heart of this pragmatic yet inspiring book is a simple truth: great leaders don't just inspire followers — they actively invest time and effort in identifying, developing, and supporting junior talent across the divides of gender and culture."
— Dominic Barton, Global Managing Partner Emeritus, McKinsey & Company
"The Sponsor Effect demonstrates that investing in junior talent not only benefits the organization, it pays off for the sponsor. In fact, being an effective and prolific sponsor may well be a prerequisite to great success for leaders." — Peter Cappelli, George W. Taylor Professor of Management, The Wharton School
"Sponsorship is not all about the protege. Sponsors benefit as well. Sylvia Ann Hewlett provides convincing evidence that it pays off to be generous and supportive of young leaders. While you rise, they rise--and while they rise, you rise too." — Katherine Phillips, Reuben Mark Professor of Organizational Character, Columbia Business School
"Sylvia Ann Hewlett shows us, in no uncertain terms, what sponsorship is and how to make it work. The Sponsor Effect is a powerful tool, not only for executives trying to build their own careers, but for anyone hoping to make the workplace better, fairer, and more productive." — Debora Spar, Baker Foundation Professor, Harvard Business School
