Women Sponsors Face Credibility Loss Defending Proteges

Being a sponsor for rising female executives is one of the most challenging roles in the business world. Sponsorship involves advocating for someone when they are not present, a role that Rosalind Chow, an advocate for sponsorship and author of the book "The Doors You Can Open," highlights as crucial for women in the workplace. Unlike mentorship, sponsorship requires a more proactive approach, where the sponsor actively promotes the protege's career advancement.

However, sponsorship can be particularly demanding for women. Women proteges often face more criticism, which means their sponsors need to engage in protective behaviors more frequently. This protective behavior, however, comes at a cost. Every time a sponsor defends a protege, they use up their social capital, which can gradually erode their credibility. Over time, this can make the sponsor's efforts less effective, ultimately hurting the protege's career prospects.

Chow illustrates this with an example from her book, where a director of a women’s leadership program recommended a part-time instructor for a full-time position. Despite the instructor's qualifications, she was passed over due to her lack of a PhD, even though a male instructor without a PhD had recently been promoted. The director faced accusations of going against hiring processes and faculty wishes, resulting in damaged relationships and broken trust.

Women often seek out other women as sponsors, but this can be challenging due to the gender imbalance in corporate leadership. Men still dominate most leadership positions, which can mean that the "power level of the sponsor" is different for rising women compared to men. Efforts to counteract these gaps, such as networking, can also come with penalties. Women who actively network often receive lower leadership ratings than men, and their connections with high-status people are viewed negatively as strategic.

Chow emphasizes that sponsorship can be a more palatable form of networking for women, as it focuses on helping others rather than maximizing personal gains. She previously developed a mentorship program for Black professionals at the Advanced Leadership Institute, aiming to push leaders from mentorship to sponsorship. This shift involves getting others to recognize the greatness of a protege, rather than trying to change their behavior.

Chow advises that one of the most critical ways men can support women in the workplace is by sponsoring them. Men can use the power they have accrued to take risks that senior women often can't, without the risk of hurting their own careers. Senior male leaders should ask themselves how many women they know, trust, spend time with, and respect, and then sponsor those women. This proactive approach can help level the playing field and support the career advancement of rising female executives.