To Get Ahead at Work, Get a Sponsor @TED #ted #shorts

You are not going to ascend  in any organization

without a sponsor.

This person

who is going to pound the table on your behalf,

this is a sponsor.

It is the critical relationship in your career.

Now, I'm asked all the time,

"How do you get one?"

Every time you deliver  upon an assignment

above people's expectations,

you generate performance currency.

Strong performance currency raises your level of visibility

in the environment,

such that a sponsor may be attracted to you.

So it is important that you invest the time to connect,

to engage and to get to know the people that are

in your environment,

and more importantly to give them the opportunity

to know you.

Because once they know you,

there's a higher probability that when you approach them

to ask them to be your sponsor,

they will in fact answer

in the affirmative.