Latest / The Marketing Career Podcast with Fexingo: Marketing Jobs, Skills, and Career Growth / How Marketers Use Career Sponsors to Accelerate Growth
Transcript
- Lucas: So there's this idea that gets thrown around a lot in career development circles — find a mentor. Get a mentor. Be a mentor. And look, mentors are great. I've had them. You've probably had them. But there's a different kind of relationship that's actually more powerful for getting promoted, especially in marketing, and it's called a sponsor. Luna: A sponsor. And I think a lot of people use those terms interchangeably — mentor, sponsor, champion — but they're really not the same thing. Lucas: Not at all. A mentor gives you advice. They'll sit with you over coffee, look at your resume, tell you which skills to build. A sponsor does something fundamentally different — they use their political capital to advocate for you when you're not in the room. They put your name forward for a stretch assignment, they recommend you for a promotion, they say 'I'll back this person' to other senior leaders. Luna: So a mentor talks to you, and a sponsor talks about you. That's a good way to put it. Lucas: Exactly. And I want to ground this in a real example. A few years ago I spoke with a brand manager at Procter & Gamble — let's call her Sarah. She was a mid-career marketer, about seven years in, managing a decent-size brand but feeling stuck. She had a mentor, a more senior marketing director, who gave her great advice on building her digital skills. But it was a different person — a senior VP she'd worked with on a cross-functional project — who actually got her promoted. That VP nominated her to lead a global innovation initiative, which was a huge stretch, and then advocated for her when the director role opened up. Sarah told me that without that VP, she would probably still be a brand manager. Luna: And that VP wasn't her formal mentor. She didn't have monthly check-ins with him. But he saw her deliver on a tough project and decided to stake his reputation on her. Lucas: Right. And that's the key difference. A sponsor is putting their own credibility on the line. If you fail, it reflects on them. So they're selective. They only sponsor people they've seen perform under pressure. And that's why sponsorship is more impactful than mentorship for career acceleration — because it's active advocacy, not passive advice. Luna: There's also some really compelling data on this. The Center for Talent Innovation — now called Coqual — did a study a couple years ago showing that employees with sponsors are 21 percent more likely to advance than those without. And the gap is even wider for women and people of color. Lucas: Twenty-one percent is huge. And that study also found that women are less likely than men to have sponsors, partly because they're less likely to ask, and partly because senior leaders tend to sponsor people who remind them of themselves. So if you're a woman or a person of color in marketing, you may need to be more intentional about finding sponsors who don't look like you. Luna: So how do you actually find a sponsor? It's not like you can walk up to a senior VP and say 'will you be my sponsor?' I mean, maybe you can, but... is that the right approach? Lucas: You actually can ask directly, but you need to earn it first. The framework I like comes from a book called 'The Sponsor Effect' by Sylvia Ann Hewlett. She breaks it down into three steps. First, you need to demonstrate what she calls 'promise' — you deliver results, you're reliable, you show leadership potential. Second, you need to make your ambitions known. Your boss and others need to know you want to grow. And third, you need to ask for sponsorship specifically. Luna: So step three is the actual ask. But how do you phrase that? 'I'd like you to be my sponsor'? Lucas: Kind of. But you make it concrete. You say something like, 'I'm really interested in the director role when it opens up. Would you be willing to advocate for me when the time comes? I'd value your support.' Or, 'I'd love to be considered for the next stretch assignment. If you think I'm ready, would you put my name forward?' It's direct, but it's respectful. And the key is you're asking for a specific action, not a general blessing. Luna: And you have to be ready for a 'no'. Not everyone will say yes. But even a 'not yet' is useful feedback. Lucas: Exactly. And if they say no, you can ask what you'd need to demonstrate to earn their sponsorship. That turns a rejection into a development plan. But I think a lot of marketers, especially mid-career, don't ask at all. They assume their work will speak for itself. And in marketing, that's rarely enough. Luna: Let's talk about the behaviors that signal sponsorship potential. What should someone look for in a potential sponsor? I mean, beyond just seniority. Lucas: Look for someone who has a track record of developing talent. Some senior leaders are known for building teams and promoting from within. Others are more individualistic. You want the former. Also look for someone who has influence beyond their immediate team — someone whose opinion carries weight in broader leadership meetings. And finally, look for someone who's willing to give you stretch assignments. That's the single biggest indicator they're willing to invest in you. Luna: And stretch assignments themselves are a way to build the relationship. Every time you deliver on a tough project, you're giving that person more reason to sponsor you. Lucas: That's right. And this is where I want to bring it back to marketing specifically. Marketing is a function where visibility matters a lot. Your campaigns, your launches, your brand results — those are visible to senior leadership. So if you're a marketer, you actually have a natural advantage in building sponsorship. Every successful campaign is a data point that a sponsor can use to advocate for you. Luna: That's a good point. In marketing, your work is often public within the company. You can point to a campaign and say 'I led that, and here are the results.' That's harder to do in, say, finance or HR. Lucas: Exactly. So if you're listening and you're a mid-career marketer feeling stuck, the question isn't 'do I need a mentor?' You probably already have one. The question is 'who is my sponsor?' And if you don't have one, you need to start cultivating that relationship now. Because the next promotion — the one that really moves your career — will likely come from someone advocating for you, not just from you doing good work. Luna: And you mentioned Sarah from P&G earlier. What happened to her after that sponsorship? Lucas: She got the director role. And then a few years later, she became a VP herself. And she told me she now makes a point of sponsoring two or three people every year. She said it's the most important thing she does for her team. So the cycle continues. Luna: That's the other side of this — once you're sponsored, you have an obligation to sponsor others. It's a pay it forward kind of thing. Lucas: Absolutely. And if these kinds of career conversations — about sponsorship, about advocacy, about how to actually move up — have been useful to you, and you'd like to support the show, there's a simple way to do it. You can buy us a coffee at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. That's buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It helps us keep the podcast ad-free and focused on real career strategy. Luna: Yeah, and we genuinely appreciate every single contribution. It's what keeps this show going. Lucas: Alright, back to sponsorship. One thing I want to emphasize is that sponsorship isn't just for people aiming for the C-suite. It's for anyone who wants to advance in their career, whether that's a senior manager role or a VP role. And the earlier you start building those relationships, the better. Luna: So let's say someone is listening and they realize they don't have a sponsor. What's the first step they should take this week? Lucas: First, identify who in your organization has influence and a track record of developing people. It might be your boss's boss, or someone two levels up in a different function. Then, look for an opportunity to work on a project that gets you visibility with that person. Volunteer for a cross-functional initiative, or ask to present your results in a leadership meeting. And then, after you've delivered, have the direct conversation. 'I'm interested in growing into a larger role. Would you be willing to advocate for me?' That's the sequence. Luna: And if you're in a smaller company where there aren't many senior leaders, you can look outside your organization. Former bosses, industry connections, even people you've met at conferences can sponsor you in different ways — by recommending you for speaking gigs, or introducing you to hiring managers. Lucas: That's a great point. Sponsorship doesn't have to be internal. In marketing especially, external sponsors — like agency partners or industry leaders — can be incredibly powerful. They can vouch for you in ways that open doors you didn't even know existed. Luna: So to recap: mentor gives advice, sponsor gives advocacy. If you want to accelerate your career, focus on finding sponsors. And if you're in a position to sponsor someone else, do it. Lucas: Well said. And on that note, I think we've given everyone a solid framework to work with. Next episode, we're going to talk about something a little different — how to handle a career setback, like being passed over for a promotion. That's one a lot of people have been asking about. Luna: Looking forward to it. See you next time. Lucas: Thanks for listening.