Get stronger in your marketing career. Diversify your network!
Conventional wisdom claims that a powerful sponsor can help you keep the job you have or find you a new one. But with job insecurity the new normal, we have heard from a number of top-level managers who had counted on one high-level backer to protect them — only to find themselves marginalized or even made redundant when their sponsor jumped ship.
The solution? Cultivate more than one sponsor. The ideal life raft, research from the Center for Talent Innovation shows, consists of three sponsors: In organizations with fewer than ten people, you’re best served by having one sponsor within the firm and two outside of it in the same industry; in larger firms, you’ll want one outsider and two insiders — one in your line of sight and one in a different department or division. This “2+1 Rule” pertains for every career stage, from entry level to executive.
One manager compares her sponsor strategy to her investment portfolio. “You want it to be diversified, and you want to keep adding to it, or it won’t be an adequate hedge,” she counsels. This means that your sponsors should be independent of each other, so that if one goes down, you don’t find the others — and yourself — dragged along.
Building out your portfolio of sponsors means increasing the number of arenas in which you play a leadership role. Your job alone probably won’t attract the attention of powerful individuals outside your team, department, or division, especially if they’re busy watching their own backs. You need to make yourself visible to a wide range of high-level managers across divisions. Volunteer for formal mentoring programs as a mentor, or sign up for a high-profile position in another leadership development program. Ask for formalized mentorship for yourself, as executives are often tapped to lead these programs.
Could you benefit from a conversation about how this process and your marketing effectiveness work together?
http://blogs.hbr.org/2013/10/to-diversify-your-network-follow/
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