HBR Women at Work Series Collection (3 Books)

17

What Men Can Do to Be Better Mentors and Sponsors to Women

by Rania H. Anderson and David G. Smith

Advocating for women’s advancement at work is integral for improving financial results, gender balance, and diversity in our workplaces and leadership teams. Yet data from the Working Mother Research Institute finds that while 48% of men say they have received detailed information on career paths to P&L jobs in the past 24 months, just 15% of women report the same.1 And, while 54% of men had a career discussion with a mentor or sponsor in the past 24 months, only 39% of women did.

Why? Because leaders, the majority of whom are male and white, don’t adequately sponsor or mentor people who don’t look like them. Recent research from the Center ...