Latest / Women at Work: Career, Leadership & Modern Work / How the Sponsorship Gap Blocks Women from Executive Roles
Transcript
- Lucas: There's a number from McKinsey's 2023 Women in the Workplace report that stuck with me. Women at the manager level are roughly 30 percent less likely than men to have a sponsor — someone with power who actively advocates for their next promotion. Luna: And that gap compounds. By the time you get to senior vice president, men are almost twice as likely to have that kind of backing. Lucas: Exactly. And it's not about mentorship. Mentors give advice. Sponsors give air cover. They put your name in the room when you're not there. They recommend you for the stretch assignment. And if you don't have that, you're essentially invisible to the people making promotion decisions. Luna: We talk about this a lot on the show — how women get coached to build networks, ask for feedback, raise their hand. But sponsorship is a different game. It's about someone else raising their hand for you. Lucas: And if we've helped you think through a career move or a negotiation or just how to navigate a tricky workplace dynamic, you might appreciate knowing that this show has no ads. We deliberately keep it that way. If you want to support that choice, the link is buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. No pressure at all. Luna: Yeah, it's a small way to keep the conversation going. And it means we can keep digging into topics like this one without any sponsors shaping the agenda. Lucas: So let's get into why the sponsorship gap exists. One big reason is access. Sponsors tend to sponsor people who remind them of themselves. And at the top, that's still mostly white men. Luna: There's also the visibility problem. A lot of women I talk to say they're doing great work, but no one in the C-suite knows their name. They're not getting the high-profile projects that put you on the radar. Lucas: And that's where the gap becomes a trap. Without a sponsor, you don't get the visible assignment. Without the visible assignment, you don't get promoted. Without the promotion, you don't build the track record that attracts sponsors at the next level. Luna: It's a self-reinforcing cycle. And the data backs it up. McKinsey found that women who have a sponsor are promoted at a significantly higher rate — but only if the sponsor is senior enough. Lucas: Right. A peer sponsor helps, but not as much as one who is two or three levels above you. And that's harder for women to access because those senior leaders are often men who may not have many women in their networks. Luna: So what's a concrete example of this playing out? I think of the tech company that started tying sponsor assignments to performance reviews. Every director had to sponsor at least two high-potential employees who didn't look like them. Lucas: That's a structural fix. And it works because it takes the onus off the individual woman to find a sponsor. Instead, the system creates the match. I've seen companies like that see a measurable uptick in women moving from manager to director within two years. Luna: I had a sponsor once. It wasn't formal. She was a senior vice president who saw me present in a meeting and afterward said, 'I want you on the steering committee for the new product launch.' That one sentence changed my trajectory. Lucas: And that's the thing — sponsorship is often invisible to the person being sponsored until it happens. You don't always know someone is advocating for you unless they tell you. Luna: So how do you increase your chances? One tactic I've seen work is to explicitly ask for sponsorship, not mentorship. Instead of 'Can you give me advice on my career path?' say 'Would you be willing to recommend me for the next director opening?' Lucas: That's a direct ask. And it changes the nature of the relationship. The person knows you're not just looking for tips — you want them to use their political capital on your behalf. Luna: It's uncomfortable. But the research shows that men are more likely to make that ask naturally. Women often wait to be 'discovered' or to feel 100 percent ready. Lucas: And waiting is the enemy. Because sponsorship is a limited resource. Senior leaders can only sponsor a handful of people at a time. If you're not asking, someone else is. Luna: There's also the question of reciprocity. Sponsors take a risk on you. If you succeed, they look good. If you fail, it reflects on them. So they're looking for signals of reliability and ambition. Lucas: Which is why a track record of delivery matters. You can't ask for sponsorship on day one. You need to build a reputation first. But once you have that, you have to make the ask. Luna: And if you're a senior leader listening, you can actively look for people to sponsor. Especially those who might not think to ask. It's not about charity — it's about building a stronger pipeline. Lucas: That's the structural change I'd love to see more of. Companies that measure sponsorship, not just mentorship. That track who is being advocated for and who isn't. Luna: Because right now, the gap is invisible to most organizations. They'll have mentorship programs, but they don't audit who has a sponsor. And that's where the real leverage is. Lucas: Let's talk about one more number. A 2022 study from the Center for Talent Innovation found that women who have a sponsor are 27 percent more likely to ask for a pay raise. So sponsorship doesn't just affect promotions — it affects compensation. Luna: Because a sponsor will tell you what you're worth. They'll say, 'You should be making X, and I'll back you in that negotiation.' That kind of intel is gold. Lucas: It is. And it's not just about the money. It's about the confidence that someone powerful believes in you. That can change how you show up. Luna: So if I'm a woman at the manager or senior manager level, what's the one thing I should do this week to start closing the sponsorship gap for myself? Lucas: Identify three senior leaders in your organization whose work you admire. Then look for a way to add value to them. Maybe it's volunteering for a project they care about. Maybe it's sharing an insight from a conference. Build a reason for them to notice you. Luna: And then make the ask. Not for mentorship. For sponsorship. 'I'd like to be considered for the next director role. Would you be willing to advocate for me?' Lucas: It's a simple sentence. But it's one that too few women say out loud. And that's the gap we can start to close, one conversation at a time. Luna: Lucas, I think this episode really drove home that sponsorship isn't a nice to have. It's a structural advantage. And if we want equity, we need to make it visible and intentional. Lucas: Agreed. Next time, we'll look at how the sponsorship gap interacts with the 'broken rung' — the first step to management where women fall behind. Thanks for being here.