From Me to We: Why commercial collaboration will future-proof business, leaders and personal success

chapter 12 ReConnect Principle 7 —  Sponsor others

Before you are a leader, success is all about growing yourself. When you become a leader, success is all about growing others.

—Jack Welch, former chairman and CEO of General Electric

Sponsorship is so much more than mentoring. It is the intentional support of another, taking action, collaborating and sharing what you know and who you know to better someone else.

Sponsorship in the workplace, especially for women, is still regarded with a mixture of suspicion and ignorance — and a feeling of ‘what’s in it for me?’ from the sponsor, which to a large extent colours the relationship before it even starts. For a truly two-way sponsorship to work, then, it has to happen in the right environment — and ...