24 May Credit our Unofficial Sponsors and Pay it Forward

“Who’s pulling for you? Who’s got your back? Who’s putting your hat in the ring? Odds are this person is not a mentor but a sponsor. Mentors can build your self-esteem and provide a sounding board – but they’re not your ticket to the top. A sponsor: a senior-level champion who believes in your potential and is willing to advocate for you.” There is a book written about this, Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor: The New Way to Fast-Track Your Career. By Sylvia Ann Hewlett.

The recurring recommendation we hear in this era of women empowerment is to always to find a diverse slate of mentors, and secure a sponsor who will open doors for you. A sponsor might emerge at any point, but it needs to happen organically through mutual trust and respect. At the start of my career, I was fortunate to have a tremendous mentor and sponsor, who happened to be a woman. I didn’t think of it in terms of these labels until two decades later at our company’s Lean In session. I mentioned this in my last Built By She Journal – I was 21 when I started my first real job after undergrad. I had been working since I was age 15 at various jobs and industry internships, but this was my first real gig. Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation. It was on the Fox lot, and I could valet park my beat up Nissan Sentra every day next to our building. I was green, clueless, star struck, and naïve as hell. This was a rare, shared entry-level job reporting to both the SVP Strategic Planning and SVP of Finance. Susan, my female boss on the Strat Planning side, made a point to encourage me and took time to mentor me. I am so grateful that she not only hired me, but also pushed me towards all kinds of new opportunities and helped me grow into myself.

How did she accomplish this? First, she was extremely transparent and open. For example, she would be working on a strategic recommendation about something, say, whether it made sense for Fox to bring visual effects production in-house. She would call me in and have me read over her analysis, tell me to take it home and give her my assessment the next morning. It was about freely sharing what she was up to, including me as a participant, whether active or observing. There were infinite business development meetings (partnership proposals, M&A deals, museum pitches, film library acquisitions, trend presentations, ice capades deals, and on and on) where she would call to me, “Tanya, are you there? Come sit in on this.” Giving helpful feedback was important too, as she would often encourage me to speak up and be confident in what I could bring. I am a reserved person, and she wouldn’t belabor that, but she would tell me that she was exactly like me at age 21, and to just have no fear in throwing my thoughts out there. She would never forget to ask, “What do you think Tanya?” I was always the youngest at the table, but she treated that as an advantage because I could offer a fresh perspective.

The philosophy of throwing you into the pool when you don’t know how to swim is something she subscribed to. She never gave me the chance to contemplate it or say, “bring it.” Nope. She gave me real projects that I never felt ready for, such as helping manage the planning of a studio theme park in Australia, constructing deal analyses, participating in pitches to the studio internally and externally. I honestly think some of our business partners raised their eyebrows at me when she would tell our data warehouse Big 4 consultants or our Design firm to check in with me on certain things. I always felt a bit like I was winging it and was given responsibility prematurely. I mean, I was only 23 by this point. Throw me into a pool and chances are that I’ll figure out how to stay partially above water. What a great growth opportunity.

Perhaps most importantly, she set me up for success by connecting me with the higher ups, always inviting me along to late night dinners with C-suite executives, movie premieres, parties at the CFO’s home. I didn’t know it, but this was the very boys’ network that we hear about, but I had a sponsor who was throwing me so many bones. I was a data geek, so I thought it was fun to run a regression analysis on movie variables and tracking data to predict opening box office numbers. She helped me gain visibility with that, and it became a fun game and dialogue with the CFO each week as well as a badge of honor because my predictive model was actually pretty accurate! Face time is important when you are low on the totem pole, and I had plenty of it. Susan also uniquely demonstrated how to exert femininity, while successfully playing amongst the upper echelons of senior management (mostly male). She was well respected, influential, held her own seemingly as if one of the boys, but she carved her own style.

To me, Susan represents what true mentorship and sponsorship means. It’s about being thoughtful, taking time, and generously sharing. It’s giving someone new a chance. Don’t assume that the next generation is too junior or not ready, give them some challenges and steer them along the way. They will surprise you!

Built By She pulls together this great community of women of all stages, all industries, and all generations. We hope that you can find a fertile ground to connect with quality people who just might be your future mentors, sponsors, mentees, or sponsored parties.

Paying it forward is a non-negotiable responsibility. How else are we going to move the needle on the 3% (women led venture funded companies) number? If you are a founder, really think about mentoring some interns. Let them absorb everything that you are passionate about. At networking events, listen and use the give, give, give, give, get rule. Whether it’s mentoring another young woman, helping her navigate big decisions, giving relevant referrals, taking a chance on hiring someone with a lifetime of potential, or paving the way for your own daughter, give back. For most of us, someone opened a door to our next opportunity. Elevate someone that you believe in and be mindful of becoming an unofficial sponsor.