The Sponsor Effect

2

Presenting the Research—and Common Mistakes

Sponsorship is a long-term, active, and reciprocal investment. You’re not “paying it forward” by helping out someone younger. Nor are you exploiting their talents and energy without giving anything in return. As a sponsor, you’re providing behind-the-scenes support, active advocacy, and air cover; your protégé gives you performance and ability, loyalty and commitment, and (if you make an effort to include the right talent) a special value add with skills you don’t have.

CTI data, some of which I’ll present in this chapter, shows the benefits of sponsorship, as well as the common mistakes that sponsors make. Some of these mistakes occur because, even though many successful business leaders grasp sponsorship’s ...