Latest / Women at Work: Career, Leadership & Modern Work / How the Sponsorship Gap Holds Women Back from Leadership
Transcript
- Lucas: So we talk a lot on this show about mentorship — finding mentors, being good mentees, all of that. But there's a quieter, more powerful force that actually determines who gets promoted into senior leadership, and it's something women are systematically locked out of. Luna: Sponsorship. I was hoping we'd get to this. Because mentorship gets all the airtime, but sponsorship is the thing that actually moves the needle. Lucas: Exactly. And the data is pretty stark. A 2023 McKinsey report found that women are 30 percent less likely than men to have a sponsor — someone senior who actively advocates for them in promotion conversations, who puts their name forward for stretch assignments. And for women of color, that gap is even wider. Luna: Thirty percent. That's not a small gap. And yet most companies pour money into formal mentorship programs and call it a day on gender equity. Lucas: Right. Because mentorship is safe. It's advice, it's coffee chats, it's 'let me share my career journey.' Sponsorship is risky. A sponsor puts their own reputation on the line. When a senior leader says 'I want this person for the VP role,' they're staking their political capital. And that tends to happen in informal settings — golf, drinks, the hallway after a meeting — where women are often not present. Luna: So it's not just that women aren't asking. It's that the whole system is built around relationships that form outside the office, in spaces women historically haven't had access to. Lucas: Exactly. Let me give you a concrete example. A few years ago, Intel ran an internal study. They found that women were being promoted at lower rates into senior engineering roles. So they looked at who had sponsors. Turned out, mid-level women with sponsors were promoted to director and above at roughly the same rate as men with sponsors. The problem was that far fewer women had sponsors in the first place. Luna: So the fix wasn't 'fix the women.' It was 'fix the pipeline of sponsorship.' Lucas: Exactly. Intel created a formal sponsorship program where senior leaders were assigned to high-potential women and held accountable for their advancement. Within a couple of years, the representation of women in senior roles moved. One woman I read about went from a mid-level manager to a VP in 18 months because her sponsor — a senior VP — made sure she got the visibility and the boardroom exposure. Luna: That's the difference between a mentor who tells you 'you should network more' and a sponsor who says 'I'm putting you on the steering committee for the new product line.' Lucas: Exactly. And this isn't about women needing to 'lean in' harder. A lot of women are already over-mentored and under-sponsored. They have five mentors giving them great advice, but nobody in the room when the promotion list is being drawn up. Luna: I've seen that firsthand. A listener named Priya wrote in — she's a senior manager at a tech company in Austin. She said her male peers would come back from offsites with the CTO and suddenly get tapped for high-profile projects. She had a mentor in HR who gave her great feedback, but it never translated into actual opportunities. Lucas: That's the classic pattern. And it's not malicious — it's just how relationships work. People sponsor people they know, people they're comfortable with, people who remind them of themselves. And if the senior leadership is mostly men, they tend to sponsor other men. Luna: So what do we do about it? Because telling women 'just get a sponsor' is like telling someone who's never played golf to just go win the Masters. Lucas: Yeah, that advice is useless without a strategy. So let's break it down. First, you need to identify potential sponsors — people who have a seat at the table where decisions are made. That's usually senior directors, VPs, C-suite. But you can't walk up and say 'be my sponsor.' You need to build a relationship where they see your value. Luna: So what does that look like in practice? A coffee chat where you ask about their biggest challenge and then come back a week later with a solution? Lucas: That's actually a great tactic. But more systematically, you want to identify a senior leader who has a strategic priority — say, they're launching a new product or trying to improve diversity numbers — and find a way to contribute. Take on a project that makes them look good. Then, when you've delivered, you can have a direct conversation: 'I'd like to grow into a leadership role. Would you be willing to advocate for me when opportunities come up?' Luna: That's the ask. And it's specific. Not 'will you be my mentor?' but 'will you advocate for me?' Lucas: Right. And if they say yes, you need to make it easy for them. Give them your one-page bio, your key accomplishments, your career goals. They need ammunition to sell you. Also, stay top of mind — send them updates on your wins, share articles relevant to their work. Make the relationship reciprocal. Luna: But what about the structural side? Because individual effort only goes so far. Companies can design sponsorship programs that force the exposure. Lucas: Absolutely. The best companies do a few things. One, they track sponsorship metrics — not just mentorship participation. Two, they tie sponsor accountability to performance reviews for senior leaders. Three, they create structured exposure — like having high-potential women present to the board or lead a cross-functional initiative. And they rotate sponsorship assignments so it's not just the same few women. Luna: It's interesting — we often talk about the confidence gap or the negotiation gap, but sponsorship is the lever that actually unlocks the next level. And it's one of the few things where the fix is mostly in the system's hands, not the woman's. Lucas: I agree. And I think that's a hopeful message. Because if companies want to close the gender gap in senior leadership, they don't need to fix women. They need to fix the sponsorship pipeline. Luna: Before we wrap, I want to mention something. If today's conversation helped you think about your own career, or gave you a concrete idea to try, we'd love it if you'd consider supporting the show. Lucas: Yeah, this is a listener-supported podcast — no ads, no sponsors. We keep it that way because we want to talk about what matters, not what an advertiser wants. If it was worth a coffee to you, you can find us at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. Luna: Every bit helps us keep having these real conversations. And now back to the topic — because I think we need to talk about one more piece: how to be a sponsor yourself, especially for women earlier in their careers. Lucas: That's a great point. Because sponsorship doesn't just have to flow from the top. If you're a mid-level manager, you can sponsor someone on your team. Put their name forward for a stretch assignment. Mention them in a meeting when you're not in the room. It's a muscle you can build. Luna: And it's especially powerful when women sponsor other women. Because we know that senior women sometimes hesitate to advocate too hard — they worry about being seen as playing favorites or being too aggressive. But the data shows that when women have sponsors of any gender, they advance. And when they have a female sponsor, the impact is even stronger. Lucas: There's a nice symmetry there. The more women who get sponsored into senior roles, the more potential sponsors there are for the next generation. It's a virtuous cycle — if we can get it started. Luna: So to bring it back to the listener: if you're a woman feeling stuck, look at who has a seat at the table and figure out how to be useful to them. And if you're already at that table, look down the pipeline and ask yourself: who am I actively creating opportunities for? Lucas: And if you're in HR or leadership, measure sponsorship. Ask your senior leaders: name the three people you are sponsoring right now. If they can't, that's a red flag. Luna: I love that. Next time I talk to an HR director, I'm going to ask that question. Lucas: Do it. And let us know what they say. We'll be back next episode with another angle on advancing women at work. Until then, keep advocating — for yourself and for each other.