bonus checklist: 4 ways sponsors can help women seek power.
by ida o. abbott
sponsoring women: what men need to know
women tend to have a limited appreciation of how their networks can help them get ahead professionally. developing strong business networks is critical for career advancement. because a leader operates through others, her value and effectiveness are largely tied to the power of her network.
more on sponsoring women for leadership: bias persists against women with children | standards for women still differ | 5 ways women get shoved aside | why men don’t see women as leaders | thanks for the advice, but i’d really prefer a promotion | 18 ways to boost your protégée | women leaders provide 6 market advantages | why cpa firms need more women | beyond mentoring to sponsorship | protect your protégée from flextime saboteurs | how to keep sex from derailing a sponsorship | ‘soft skills’ advice needed, too | use others to promote your protégée | 8 ways sponsors can highlight opportunities | 17 ways sponsors can help protégées | 3 ways to open a sponsorship conversation | what sponsors need from protégées | 3 ways to derail sponsorships
yet women are reluctant to cultivate potential sponsors through their networks, while men willingly use patronage and networks to open doors and provide opportunities that cannot be accessed through normal channels. men attribute their promotions to personal connections as a matter of pride, not embarrassment, because it means that influential people see them as leaders and reward them accordingly. as a result, men benefit from the political processes that go on all around them while women lose out.
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