Forget a Mentor, Find a Sponsor: The New Way To Fast-Track Your Career

Economist and prolific business and women's issues author Hewlett (founder & president, Ctr. for Talent Innovation; Off-Ramps and On-Ramps: Keeping Talented Women on the Road to Success) offers a slim and succinct guide to furthering one's career by identifying sponsors who may act as advocates. Mentorship is well and good, she argues, but finding individuals with the power to help you move up through the ranks is more important. If this strategy sounds like glorified networking, well, it is. After the initial chapter on "embracing your dream" and "building your castle," Hewlett gets down to brass tacks and offers suggestions for recognizing "power players" and turning those players into advocates by showing support and genuine appreciation for their work and by enhancing it. In essence, furthering one's career means helping others further theirs. Hewlett also identifies possible pitfalls along the way: forming connections with sponsors as well as mentors can sometimes be derailed by personality differences, sex, and cultural and racial differences.