How a Sponsor Can Boost Your Career: The value of mentors in career development is well-known. But do you know what a sponsor is? Such a person is in many respects a considerably more important ally, since he or she can offer even more tangible benefits, such as actually offering you a job or arranging your placement in a job with someone else.

The most valuable sponsors are those who have the clout to place you in a job with a third party, sight unseen, just with a phone call.

 This clout can result from high position and power, from credibility and expertise, or both.

Note that some mentors also may act as (or have the power or influence to become) sponsors for you. Meanwhile, a sponsor may not necessarily be someone who also mentors you, or has the time or inclination to do so. This is particularly the case if your sponsor is a very busy executive several levels above you in the company hierarchy.

Sponsors Who Assemble Winning Teams For Themselves: One species of sponsor is the wise manager who assembles a team of talented and trusted assistants, and who brings this group along as he or she moves from position to position, both within a given company and across companies. Sports fans will recognize this as analogous to the situation with head coaches who, when they change teams, bring along the same group of assistant coaches with them. Similarly, there are many examples of professional teams acquiring a group of athletes who previously played together elsewhere and produced championships there.

A highly illustrative case in point involves a manager who became a sponsor to this writer during their days at Merrill Lynch. They first became acquainted as peers in different areas of the financial organization, the future sponsor in corporate budgeting, this writer in management reporting and transfer pricing. When the former took charge of a financial analysis group in need of transfer pricing expertise, he recruited the latter to be a subordinate. When the former advanced to become the chief administrative officer (CAO) of a new business unit, he again recruited the latter, this time to be controller of a troubled department in that unit.

The head of that department, to whom the controller would have a dotted line relationship in the reporting matrix, was ready to sign off on this new hire strictly on the say-so of his sponsor, the CAO. Their subsequent interview was thus merely a pro-forma exercise. It also did not matter that the new controller had no prior experience as one. The CAO had complete confidence in his adaptability, and the department head trusted the CAO's judgment without question.

Later on, this CAO moved to an executive position at JPMorgan Chase. As a sponsor, he took a core group of trusted subordinates from Merrill Lynch along with him, to hold key positions in his new organization. He brought this writer in as a consultant, with an option to take a full-time position. Since then, this sponsor has been at UBS and Morgan Stanley, taking many of the same group along with him yet again. This writer continues to have a standing offer of full-time employment.

This executive on the move thus has become a true sponsor to a trusted team of followers.

The Dark Side of Sponsor Relationships: Unfortunately, sometimes a powerful sponsor can advance and protect various types of bad employees, making them difficult, if not impossible, to dislodge. Follow the link for illustrative case studies.

For More Information About Sponsors: Follow this link to an excellent article that offers more detail about sponsors. From the perspective of About.com's Human Resources site, it covers the traits of a good sponsor and what such a person can do for you.