We are gonna talk about building relationship with sponsors.And so I would love to have this be as interactive as possible so that we can get questions and any comments. I will leave plenty of time for q and a, so we'll go through it quickly. So kind of get your water, get your pen, get your paper, and we're gonna go with it. So I will give you an intro. Anna already gave a beautiful summary. Sometimes it's hard to believe all of those things have occurred. But, again, in my my end is lagging, but, Diana Allen, some people call me doctor d.

I do have an earned doctorate in organizational leadership, but, part of my huge passion is for women in STEM, a broad spectrum of the industry. Regardless of what we want to believe, the truth of the matter is that our lived experiences as women in this industry is different. And it's different from a myriad of points of view, and our intersectionalities are what help us bring the most value. So I am the CEO of Allen Leadership Solutions, and I have a empowered career accelerator that is focused on helping to guide women in STEM. And this is an excerpt of what we're doing. I've I've I've spoken to Anna quite a few times. She's been amazing, and I'm congratulating her on her book and all of those things.

And so it's it's been, a long amazing journey, and I'm I'm just happy to be here. But my opinions are not representative of Pribble, so let's get that that part out. But they are very deeply rooted in my lived experience as well as my doctoral research. So are we ready to proceed? Yes or yes? Let's see the comments. I see a couple of yeses, so let's go with that. Today, we'll talk about the different types of career support. We'll talk about tactical steps to identify sponsors, how to build relationships that will support your career. And then we'll ask some questions, and I'll answer some questions. The biggest challenge that I think we have is that we are told to work hard and someone will notice.

We are told to keep our heads down, get work done, and it will happen. That is not true. We know that because there are plenty of hardworking people that are not as successful as others. And so what I am here to tell you today is that talent being good enough and knowing is not enough. Knowing the information, knowing how to what regardless of your industry, let's talk about tech. Knowing your database queries, being AWS certified, having a CISSP, having a master's degree, having every certification under the sun, and being able to run circles around your counterparts, it's simply not enough. What is the missing piece? It's career support.

And when you have that disparity between you being ready and you are ambitious and you are qualified and you are ready to go and the opportunity not presenting itself, you have this huge chasm of space. And you're like, what in the world happened? Why am I I'm ready. I'm waiting. I I'm I'm ready. The key to that is career support. That's the missing piece. And so I wanna talk to you really quickly about the types of career support. Here we have advisors, coaches, mentors, and the biggest of them all are sponsors. And so I want you to understand what the difference is. Advisors can be anyone, whether they're in your industry or not. They give you advice. They give you suggestions. You lay out a scenario to them, and they're gonna say, yep. That sounds realistic. That aligns, I think. Mhmm. Yep. I would agree with that. It's logical. But they may or may not know your industry in-depth. The other piece is you have coaches. Sometimes coaches are helping you with creating, a better impression.

They're helping you with your performance. They're helping you with presentation skills. They are coaching you along the way, and they're giving you input guidance. Those are what coaches those that's what essentially coaches do. And mentor, it's defined as career support that varies at various levels, and it's critical to social advancement. So mentors, they share their network with you. They will make introductions. They will make suggestions. Sometimes they can provide you with emotional support. Hey. You can do it. You got this. But a sponsor, totally different. A sponsor is someone that puts their reputational capital on the line for you. And oftentimes, we hear this cliche of sponsors mention your name in rooms where you are not present. Absolutely true. However, there's more to that. The additional piece about sponsorship is that sponsors are actionable. They not only speak your name, but they do something to help you move forward.

They recommend you for stretch assignments. They invite you to events. They introduce you to your network. So a key difference that I would like you to walk away from here with is that mentors give you advice. They give you support, and sponsors are very active. They are doing something on your behalf. Now it's not nepotism. They're not handing you something you did not deserve. They're just creating access and opportunity for you. Sponsors are oftentimes two levels above you. So that's just something to note, that they because they're usually in rooms that you're not present in. So at least two levels above. It doesn't have to be. And so when all parties are engaged, the person, the protege, who would be you receiving the sponsorship, the sponsor are engaged in the experience, everyone benefits from successful execution of the relationship.

It shows that they have a good eye for talent. It helps them build their capital and build their network and build followership. And for you, it helps you grow and it helps you advance. Okay? That's sponsorship in a nutshell. Let's keep going. So how do you get a sponsor? Get closer. How do you get a sponsor? That's what you wanna know. I believe it. Sponsorship. Let's talk through it. Let's talk about the tactical ways to do it. I have a three a framework. My last name is Allen. I love any type of, you know, collaboration of letters in that way. So access alignment and advocacy, that is a part of one of our Allen leadership solution frameworks. Why that's important is that you need to understand where sponsors live, how do you get to them, what do you need to do, and how do you make that relationship work?

So what I will say to you is that being accessible, being visible in the right arenas. Sponsors can advocate for you for what they don't see. What does that mean tactically? Cross functional projects, external engagements, so and networking events similar to this. Hey. Wanted to share hey, Anna. How are you? I'm Diana. This is what's going on. I had a great opportunity to go to this women's tech networking event. I was a speaker. I was a presenter. I heard amazing speakers. I would love to share my plus one ticket with you. I would love to have this opportunity. It shows that you have breadth and depth outside of your immediate work where you are heads down just delivering. Access and being visible in the right spaces. The other piece is to find alignment. Sponsorship works best when it's beneficial for both people. It's not transactional.

And that is oftentimes a mistake some of us are making nowadays is what can you do for me lately? When we think about when when you think about who can be a really great sponsor for you, think about who benefits from you being successful. How can you amplify what they're already trying to do? If they are passionate about code, if they are passionate about philanthropy, if they are passionate about building eminence for the company or the organization, Where can you identify ways to partner and pull together and work together? The other piece is advocacy. You earn trust through being consistent. It's consistent excellence. If you are poor at your job, you are not qualified, you are not ambitious, you are apathetic, you're like, whatever. I don't care.

I just want my check, and I just wanna go home. Those are not attributes and behaviors where sponsors will put their name on the line for her. What they want to see and what sponsors do is they observe patterns and behaviors. So few things. Consistently. Diana delivers excellence consistently. She knows her craft. She knows what she's doing. Context. Where is she doing it? Is it in places that matter for the business? And courage. Are you courageous enough to share your narrative? The previous speaker talked about being able to talk about what you're doing and sharing that even if you're nervous. How else will people know the amazing things that you're doing and being able to tie it to value if you never tell them? It is a lie, a myth, a fable, and a story that if you keep your head down and do work, people will people will notice.

The world is moving too quickly. You need to architect your support system. Pick the people that are around you that are supportive of you. Pick the people that can know about what it is that you're doing and why it matters. That is how you build the sponsor relationship. If you find someone that does not care, that's one person out of the way for you to find another one that does. You have an opportunity to live your life by design and not by default. You don't have to take what's handed to you. You do not have to wait for the opportunity to come. Choose your circle. Find out who can benefit from mutual amplification, and then when you figure that out, narrate your impact out loud.

So now that we understand this, be clear that sponsorship is not mentorship with better lighting. That's not what it is. When you have a sponsor, you need to figure out, do you make their world better, and do you make their investment look smart? So here's the cycle of sponsorship. This is an excerpt of the career accelerator I shared, and this is an excerpt from Allen Leadership Solutions. The research has paid off, ladies and and gentlemen. You discover the sponsor. You start building the relationship. As you start building that relationship, you deliver. You deliver with excellence. You are driving for results. You are coming back, and you are checking in. You are sharing the details of what you did. Hey. Thank you for introducing me to Anna. Just wanted to let you know, I had a I had lunch with her the other day. It was amazing, and we're gonna touch base in a couple of weeks.

What you do not wanna do is take the relationship, take the intro, and never come back. That is a huge mistake. So always keep the contacts, follow-up, keep those things going. And as you do that, you will inherently deepen the relationship. Give them an opportunity to make more investment in you and to share more of their network with you. And then last but not least, you distribute. You share with others. You become good at identif because you know what good talent looks like, you become good at identifying talent, and you become good at bringing it bringing people along. You have to pay it forward. Do not be a gatekeeper to access an opportunity. Share the info. Share the women in tech network. Invite someone else.

And then when you do that, don't forget to vocalize and narrate your impact and say, here here's how I'm helping to bring the next generation behind me. Pay it forward. So keeping people informed, this is essentially how you maintain the relationship with sponsors. It's also imperative and a little upper and this is in my notes, an opportunity to find people who are not necessarily where they're going, like, on the high on the highest level, but on their way. Why that's beneficial is when you folks who knew you way back when when you were in undergrad or you get back to middle school, those folks are people that will make the time and will answer the phone when you call. Sometimes when we get to senior leadership positions, everyone is pulling at us from every direction, and we don't know what is authentic and what isn't. But when you have that friend, when you have Jenny who has been friends with me since for twenty years and she calls, I'm answering that phone call.

So sometimes it's helpful to be the person that knew someone back when. And keep though keep that in mind for your relationships as well. When people reach out to you, answer the LinkedIn post, schedule the coffee, do those things to deepen the relationship. All of those things will be helpful. And so where are we gonna go from here? I want you to start with your current network. Take a look at your network. Write it down. Look at who's in your network. Think about those people who have sent farewell messages, from previous employers or say, we wanna keep in touch and reach out to them. I will share some information. If you wanna get in contact with me, I have sample scripts of how you can email someone that you haven't talked to in a long time.

You don't wanna make it weird and awkward. Or if there is someone that you just want to try to build the relationship with and you don't know how. You don't wanna feel like you're asking them on a date, but you are kind of like, hey. I would love to deepen this connection. But that's where you should start. Map it out. Here is who I'd want to connect with. Here's who I'd want to talk to. Here's who's in my network. Because at the end of the day and the beginning of the next, you have two forms of currency. You have performance integrity, and you have narrative equity. So your performance is what's gonna get you in the door, and you're going to be able to to just qualify. But also recognize that at a certain level, being good is not good enough because everybody here is good. Otherwise, we wouldn't even be in the room.

So the next piece that you have is your narrative equity, your ability to vocalize what it is that you do, why it matters, and the positive impact that it has. It's a little bit like sales, but I can share and I can commit to you that if you know how to translate your your work to value and impact, you will be exponentially successful. So you also wanna make sure that anyone who is investing in you doesn't look foolish for making that investment, and carry that same torch when you are making the decision to invest in others. Hopefully, this makes sense. Write it down. Map out who could be a mentor, who could be a sponsor, who's a coach, who's an adviser, and then decide if you wanna move people around. This person is a great mentor. I'd love for them to be a sponsor for me. I'd love for this to happen.

Sometimes as you elevate and your sponsor has helped you move to another level, you might need new sponsors, and that sponsor now becomes a mentor at your new level. So don't forget, once you move along to keep your network with you is valuable currency. And so I will say to you and I will leave you with this. When someone makes a bet on you by putting their name on the line for you and their reputation, what are you doing to make sure that that bet pays off? Connect with me on LinkedIn. I would definitely love to talk to you all. If you have if you would like to, you can have time on my calendar. I make, I make time to talk to anyone that puts time on my calendar to share the details of what you'd love to talk about. It's linkedin.com, doctor Diana b Allen. And, also, I would love to hear your feedback on what you thought about the keynote session and what questions you have. Thank you.

Hi, Diana. It was a fantastic again, we are gonna talk about building relationship with sponsors. And so I would love to have this be as interactive as possible so that we can get questions and any comments. I will leave plenty of time for q and a, so we'll go through it quickly. So kind of get your water, get your pen, get your paper, and we're gonna go with it. So I will give you an intro. Anna already gave a beautiful summary. Sometimes it's hard to believe all of those things have occurred. But, again, in my my end is lagging, but, Diana Allen, some people call me doctor d.

I do have an earned doctorate in organizational leadership, but part of my huge passion is for women in STEM, a broad spectrum of the industry. Regardless of what we want to believe, the truth of the matter is that our lived experiences as women in this industry is different. And it's different from a myriad of points of view, and our intersectionalities are what help us bring the most value. So I am the CEO of Allen Leadership Solutions, and I have a empowered career accelerator that is focused on helping to guide women in STEM. And this is an excerpt of what we're doing. I've I've I've spoken to Anna quite a few times. She's been amazing, and I'm congratulating her on her book and all of those things.

And so it's it's been, a long amazing journey, and I'm I'm just happy to be here. But my opinions are not representative of Pribble, so let's get that part out. But they are very deeply rooted in my lived experience as well as my doctoral research. So are we ready to proceed? Yes or yes? Let's see the comments. I see a couple of yeses, so let's go with that. Today, we'll talk about the different types of career support. We'll talk about tactical steps to identify sponsors, how to build relationships that will support your career. And then we'll ask some questions, and I'll answer some questions. The biggest challenge that I think we have is that we are told to work hard and someone will notice.

We are told to keep our heads down, get work done, and it will happen. That is not true. We know that because there are plenty of hardworking people that are not as successful as others. And so what I am here to tell you today is that talent being good enough and knowing is not enough. Knowing the information, knowing how to what regardless of your industry, let's talk about tech. Knowing your database queries, being AWS certified, having a CISSP, having a master's degree, having every certification under the sun, and being able to run circles around your counterparts, it's simply not enough. What is the missing piece? It's career support.

And when you have that disparity between you being ready and you are ambitious and you are qualified and you are ready to go and the opportunity not presenting itself, you have this huge chasm of space. And you're like, what in the world happened? Why am I I'm ready. I'm waiting. I I'm I'm ready. The key to that is career support. That's the missing piece. And so I wanna talk to you really quickly about the types of career support. Here we have advisors, coaches, mentors, and the biggest of them all are sponsors. And so I want you to understand what the difference is. Advisors can be anyone, whether they're in your industry or not. They give you advice. They give you suggestions. You lay out a scenario to them, and they're gonna say, yep. That sounds realistic. That aligns, I think. Mhmm. Yep. I would agree with that. It's logical. But they may or may not know your industry in-depth. The other piece is you have coaches. Sometimes coaches are helping you with creating, a better impression.

They're helping you with your performance. They're helping you with presentation skills. They are coaching you along the way, and they are giving you input guidance. Those are what coaches those that's what essentially coaches do. And mentor, it's defined as career support that varies at various levels, and it's critical to social advancement. So mentors, they share their network with you. They will make introductions. They will make suggestions. Sometimes they can provide you with emotional support. Hey. You can do it. You got this. But a sponsor, totally different. A sponsor is someone that puts their reputational capital on the line for you. And oftentimes, we hear this cliche of sponsors mention your name in rooms where you are not present. Absolutely true. However, there's more to that. The additional piece about sponsorship is that sponsors are actionable. They not only speak your name, but they do something to help you move forward.

They recommend you for stretch assignments. They invite you to events. They introduce you to your network. So a key difference that I would like you to walk away from here with is that mentors give you advice. They give you support, and sponsors are very active. They are doing something on your behalf. Now it's not nepotism. They're not handing you something you did not deserve. They're just creating access and opportunity for you. Sponsors are oftentimes two levels above you. So that's just something to note, that they because they're usually in rooms that you're not present in. So at least two levels above. It doesn't have to be. And so when all parties are engaged, the person, the protege, what would be you receiving the sponsorship, the sponsor are engaged in the experience, everyone benefits from successful execution of the relationship.

It shows that they have a good eye for talent. It helps them build their capital and build their network and build followership. And for you, it helps you grow and it helps you advance. Okay? That's sponsorship in a nutshell. Let's keep going. So how do you get a sponsor? Get closer. How do you get a sponsor? That's what you wanna know. I believe it. Sponsorship. Let's talk through it. Let's talk about the tactical ways to do it. I have a three a framework. My last name is Allen. I love any type of, you know, collaboration of letters in that way. So access alignment and advocacy, that is a part of one of our Allen leadership solution frameworks. Why that's important is that you need to understand where sponsors live, how do you get to them, what do you need to do, and how do you make that relationship work?

So what I will say to you is that being accessible, being visible in the right arenas. Sponsors can advocate for you for what they don't see. What does that mean tactically? Cross functional projects, external engagements, so and networking events similar to this. Hey. Wanted to share hey, Anna. How are you? I'm Diana. This is what's going on. I had a great opportunity to go to this women's tech networking event. I was a speaker. I was a presenter. I heard amazing speakers. I would love to share my plus one ticket with you. I would love to have this opportunity. It shows that you have breadth and depth outside of your immediate work where you are heads down just delivering. Access and being visible in the right spaces. The other piece is to find alignment. Sponsorship works best when it's beneficial for both people. It's not transactional.

And that is oftentimes a mistake some of us are making nowadays is what can you do for me lately? When we think about when when you think about who can be a really great sponsor for you, think about who benefits from you being successful. How can you amplify what they're already trying to do? If they are passionate about code, if they are passionate about philanthropy, if they are passionate about building eminence for the company or the organization, where can you identify ways to partner and pull together and work together? The other piece is advocacy. You earn trust through being consistent. It's consistent excellence. If you are poor at your job, you are not qualified, you are not ambitious, you are apathetic. You're like, whatever. I don't care.

I just want my check, and I just wanna go home. Those are not attributes and behaviors where sponsors will put their name on the line for. What they want to see and what sponsors do is they observe patterns and behaviors. So few things. Consistently. Diana delivers excellence consistently. She knows her craft. She knows what she's doing. Context. Where is she doing it? Is it in places that matter for the business? And courage. Are you courageous enough to share your narrative? The previous speaker talked about being able to talk about what you're doing and sharing that even if you're nervous. How else will people know the amazing things that you're doing and being able to tie it to value if you never tell them? It is a lie, a myth, a fable, and a story that if you keep your head down and do work, people will people will notice.

The world is moving too quickly. You need to architect your support system. Pick the people that are around you that are supportive of you. Pick the people that can know about what it is that you're doing and why it matters. That is how you build the sponsor relationship. If you find someone that does not care, that's one person out of the way for you to find another one that does. You have an opportunity to live your life by design and not by default. You don't have to take what's handed to you. You do not have to wait for the opportunity to come. Choose your circle. Find out who can benefit from mutual amplification, and then when you figure that out, narrate your impact out loud.

So now that we understand this, be clear that sponsorship is not mentorship with better lighting. That's not what it is. When you have a sponsor, you need to figure out, do you make their world better, and do you make their investment look smart? So here's the cycle of sponsorship. This is an excerpt of the career accelerator I shared, and this is an excerpt from Allen Leadership Solutions. The research has paid off, ladies and and gentlemen. You discover the sponsor. You start building the relationship. As you start building that relationship, you deliver. You deliver with excellence. You are driving for results. You are coming back and you are checking in. You are sharing the details of what you did. Hey. Thank you for introducing me to Anna. Just wanted to let you know, I had a I had lunch with her the other day. It was amazing, and we're gonna touch base in a couple of weeks.

What you do not wanna do is take the relationship, take the intro, and never come back. That is a huge mistake. So always keep the contacts, follow-up, keep those things going. And as you do that, you will inherently deepen the relationship. Give them an opportunity to make more investment in you and to share more of their network with you. And then last but not least, you distribute. You share with others. You become good at identif because you know what good talent looks like, you become good at identifying talent, and you become good at bringing it bringing people along. You have to pay it forward. Do not be a gatekeeper to access an opportunity. Share the info. Share the women in tech network. Invite someone else.

And then when you do that, don't forget to vocalize and narrate your impact and say, here's how I'm helping to bring the next generation behind me. Pay it forward. So keeping people informed, this is essentially how you maintain the relationship with sponsors. It's also imperative and a little upper and this isn't in my notes, an opportunity to find people who are not necessarily where they're going, like, on the high on the highest level, but on their way. Why that's beneficial is when you folks who knew you way back when when you were in undergrad or you got back to middle school, those folks are people that will make the time and will answer the phone when you call. Sometimes when we get to senior leadership positions, everyone is pulling at us from every direction, and we don't know what is authentic and what isn't. But when you have that friend, when you have Jenny who has been friends with me since for twenty years and she calls, I'm answering that phone call.

So sometimes it's helpful to be the person that knew someone back when. And keep though keep that in mind for your relationships as well. When people reach out to you, answer the LinkedIn post, schedule the coffee, do those things to deepen the relationship. All of those things will be helpful. And so where are we gonna go from here? I want you to start with your current network. Take a look at your network. Write it down. Look at who's in your network. Think about those people who have sent farewell messages, from previous employers or say, we wanna keep in touch and reach out to them. I will share some information. If you wanna get in contact with me, I have sample scripts of how you can email someone that you haven't talked to in a long time.

You don't wanna make it weird and awkward. Or if there is someone that you just want to try to build the relationship with and you don't know how. You don't wanna feel like you're asking them on a date, but you are kind of like, hey. I would love to deepen this connection. But that's where you should start. Map it out. Here is who I'd want to connect with. Here's who I'd want to talk to. Here's who's in my network. Because at the end of the day and the beginning of the next, you have two forms of currency. You have performance integrity, and you have narrative equity. So your performance is what's going to get you in the door, and you're going to be able to to just qualify. But also recognize that at a certain level, being good is not good enough because everybody here is good. Otherwise, we wouldn't even be in the room.

So the next piece that you have is your narrative equity, your ability to vocalize what it is that you do, why it matters, and the positive impact that it has. It's a little bit like sales, but I can share and I can commit to you that if you know how to translate your your work to value and impact, you will be exponentially successful. So you also wanna make sure that anyone who is investing in you doesn't look foolish for making that investment, and carry that same torch when you are making the decision to invest in others. Hopefully, this makes sense. Write it down. Map out who could be a mentor, who could be a sponsor, who's a coach, who's an adviser, and then decide if you wanna move people around. This person is a great mentor. I'd love for them to be a sponsor for me. I'd love for this to happen.

Sometimes as you elevate and your sponsor has helped you move to another level, you might need new sponsors, and that sponsor now becomes a mentor at your new level. So don't forget, once you move along to keep your network with you is valuable currency. And so I will say to you and I will leave you with this. When someone makes a bet on you by putting their name on the line for you and their reputation, what are you doing to make sure that that bet pays off? Connect with me on LinkedIn. I would definitely love to talk to you all. If you have if you would like to, you can have time on my calendar. I make, I make time to talk to anyone that books time on my calendar. Just share the details of what you'd love to talk about. It's linkedin.com, doctor Diana b Allen. And, also, I would love to hear your feedback on what you thought about the keynote session and what questions you have. Thank you.

Hi, Diana. It was a fantastic again, we are gonna talk about building relationship with sponsors. And so I would love to have this be as interactive as possible so that we can get questions and any comments. I will leave plenty of time for q and a, so we'll go through it quickly. So kind of get your water, get your pen, get your paper, and we're gonna go with it. So I will give you an intro. Anna already gave a beautiful summary. Sometimes it's hard to believe all of those things have occurred. But, again, in my my end is lagging, but, Diana Allen, some people call me doctor d.

I do have an earned doctorate in organizational leadership, but, part of my huge passion is for women in STEM, a broad spectrum of the industry. Regardless of what we want to believe, the truth of the matter is that our lived experiences as women in this industry is different. And it's different from a myriad of points of view, and our intersectionalities are what help us bring the most value. So I am the CEO of Allen Leadership Solutions, and I have a