BRX Pro Tip: Mentors are Good. Sponsors are Better
Stone Payton : Welcome back to Business RadioX Pro Tips. Lee Kantor, Stone Payton here with you. Lee, this is an interesting thought. I want to hear more. Mentors are good; sponsors are better.
Lee Kantor: Yeah. And business, especially if people are working in larger corporations that have a lot of people and a lot of layers, having a mentor is super important. It helps you get onboarded faster. It helps you get good at what you’re doing faster. Everybody knows that people should get mentors. People should be mentors. I think that’s super important.
Lee Kantor: But one of the things that I think is more important than a good mentor or a mentor of any kind is having a sponsor. That is really the next level. That is really where you want to focus some energy. You have to have sponsors in this world.
Lee Kantor: One of the most important things you can have on a team, obviously, is a mentor, but a sponsor is going to be the one that gets you to a new level. They’re the ones who are going to give you an opportunity that can really change the trajectory of your career.
Lee Kantor: A mentor is going to give you advice. They’re going to help you think through decisions. They’re going to share experience. You’re going to grow, all that good stuff. Super important. Not saying it’s not. That’s super important. You should be doing all that. But a sponsor is doing more than guiding you. They’re advocating for you when you’re not in the room. They’re putting your name forward and recommending you for opportunities and using their political capital and their influence to help you move forward faster.
Lee Kantor: So for sure, mentors are valuable, but if you really want momentum in your career, you’ve got to look and find and identify people who are not only going to coach you, but they’re going to champion you. They’re going to put you up for that job or that opportunity. You need more of those people in your life.
