Sponsor

Meritocracy is a myth. So, if that’s the case, who is going to speak for you? Who, in the workplace, throughout your career, will stand up and vouch for you? Who will invite you to the table when no-one knows your name? There’s always someone spending their valuable social and political capital to speak your name and make it great - especially in a capitalistic society. So, again, I ask, who is your sponsor?

Do they have the power to wield in your favor? As we go into 2020, I will be keeping my eye out for additional sponsors. I will be spending my performance and relationship currency to gain new sponsors. I know the value of having a sponsor, as I’ve been sponsored before. Someone used their social and political capital to ensure my position was given its appropriate value.

In this TED Talk, Wall Street veteran Carla Harris breaks down the importance of having a sponsor, identifying one, and how to ask them from sponsorship.