The Day After #GiveToGain

IWD posts, panels, pronouncements and prognosis are behind us for another year (till the marketers and algorithms ramp it up again for 2027).

Now what? What happens today?

Well, that is entirely up to you.

So let's address this, by talking about one area where the research is unambiguous and there is a pretty unanimous (and huge) need: sponsorship.

The single biggest gap between women who advance and women who don't isn't talent, credentials, or ambition. It's sponsorship. Not mentorship — sponsorship.

The difference matters. A mentor gives you advice.

A sponsor on the other hand, puts their reputational and social capital on the line for you. They spell out your credentials – behind closed doors, in rooms filled with people who should know about your talents but don't know you exist. They make things happen - such as facilitating critical introductions, or visibility opportunities.

Sponsors are pivotal in making things happen – because it's good for their ambitions, not simply because it's good your career.

And here's the really frustrating reality: women are over-mentored and chronically under-sponsored.

And here's a reframe of that really frustrating reality: whether you're climbing the corporate ladder or seeking venture capital funding or switching careers or seeking business leads, sponsorship isn't only something you need - it's something every single one of us already has the power to give. Underline and exclamation point "has the power to give".

Actual #GiveToGain. No Hashtag Required.

Back to what you can actually do — starting now – to empower your career, and the career of other women?

·      Understand your social capital resources, from the network you have to the critical connections you need to unlock. Who do you know? Where do you have visibility? Do you even know? Chapter 2 of my book The Social Billionaire is a network mapping exercise. Do it.

·      Gather three to five women in your organization or industry who are willing to undertake the same analysis and discovery steps in bullet point one, and who, after completing the exercise, commit to comparing networking notes - and commit to taking collective action.

·      Schedule time to compare network mapping notes. Lay it out. Where are you excluded or at a disadvantage? Where do you have network strength? Where are the network gaps for others?

·      Who's trying to get somewhere you've already been – and how can you strategically guide them? Who in your network could open a door for someone else in the room? Each woman in the room should be ready to do this for each other. Collaboration is collective power.

·      Don't leave the meeting without next steps, a clear understanding of each person’s needs and to-do's. Make the introduction. Put your name behind the commitment you're making to the others in the room – to help them reach their ambition. Hold everyone in the room accountable. This is real sponsorship. Full stop.

You don't need a marketing program or a designated budget or a corporate initiative to move your career ahead. What you need is the clear intention and wholehearted willingness to spend whatever social capital  you have, on someone else's dreams.

The breakfast is over. This is where impactful networking really starts.