The difference between massive success and a face plant

 

The One Key Difference Between Massive Success and A Face Plant

October 28, 2013

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Following last week’s article on “The 7 Things I Learned When I Got Fired (Again),” I have received a number of questions about what drove the difference between successes and my front-page-of-the-newspaper firings.
It wasn’t my work ethic: I’ve worked like a fiend in every job I’ve had (in one year-end review, I was even told to try to hide it a bit). It wasn’t results: my business was the most-ahead-of-budget-I'd-ever-been when Bank of America sent me home. It wasn’t changes in my personality: that was set in stone at about the age of 6, I’m afraid.
It was a having a sponsor.
This is a topic that Sylvia Hewlett at the Center for Talent Innovation has written about extensively, and for me it rings dead-on true. When I started at Sanford Bernstein, one senior colleague took a real interest in my work: he read my research, corrected it, coached me on presentations, critiqued me afterwards, talked me up to clients, and advocated for me to receive promotions….and was vocal to management when his advice was not taken. But the relationship was not simply one way; after some time, I could also review his research, debate recommendations with him and recommend his work to clients. I know this cut years off of my career trajectory because I could compare myself to (equally hard-working and certainly smarter) colleagues who started at about the same time I did, but were a couple of years behind in their success.
Last week, I shared my experience at Bank of America. The CEO who brought me in had committed to act as my “sponsor,” though he didn’t use those exact words. He told me he would stay for two years in his job, during which he would help ensure my smooth transition into the company. But he announced his retirement less than two months later. The difference between when he was at the company and after he left, for me, was palpable.
Ok, so how do you get one of these magical sponsors? How do you turn a by-definition-less-involved mentor into a sponsor?
As with all relationships, there is no easy answer. One way to start is to ask for feedback ALL THE TIME; the resulting give-and-take can form the first steps to a sponsorship relationship, as the sponsor becomes invested in your success and gains trust in you. For women in particular, proactively asking for feedback is crucial, because research has shown senior men are less willing to give women feedback (and, yes, it’s because they’re nervous we will cry….and, no, I’m not making this up.)
Two more pieces of advice:
Ideally, you will have sponsors both inside and outside of your existing company. While I didn’t have a sponsor inside of Bank of America, I had a number of them outside of the company. Thus, when I was bounced out, I had people who were there to provide guidance and, very importantly, new business opportunities. It was through one of these contacts that I came to buy 85 Broads, itself a professional woman’s network. (Yes, I felt so strongly about the importance of these types of connections, and their positive impact on one's business success, that I bought a professional woman’s network…..)
And the second piece of advice on this is: don’t wait. There are always more urgent things on the to-do list than to spend time on your network or cultivate sponsors. But, as a friend of mine reminded me last week, waiting to work on your network until you need it is a lot like waiting to save for retirement until you’re 65-years-old. A day late and a dollar short.
(Photo: Flickr, adventures_boy)

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