As part of my series on ALLIES here is the interview for the “S” in Sponsor.
Wise words from both Maggie Chan Jones and John Schwarz as they share their story of sponsorship in the Avast board room.
To quote Maggie: “sponsorship is a partnership of achievement and advocacy. Sponsors are those who are at a higher level in an organization who see the potentials in you as a protégé and next generation leader. They may challenge you to a bolder vision for yourself, help open doors to new opportunities, provide visibility, and expand your network. They are the ones who speak positively on your behalf even when you were not in the room. Sponsors are most often “earned”.
Very often, people use mentors and sponsors interchangeably. But I love this analogy to distinguish the two roles. Mentors shine a light on the door and sponsors kick it open for you.”
Maggie Chan Jones is a long and influential business advocate of DEI. She founded Tenshey, Inc. in 2018 and currently serves as CEO. Through Tenshey, Maggie focuses on elevating more women and underrepresented leaders into leadership roles.
She is a Board Director at Avast and Open Systems.
Maggie is also a renowned author of the book Decoding Sponsorship which I highly recommend you read, and I am delighted to have her join me today to speak more about that and share one of her stories alongside one of her own sponsors John Schwarz.
John Schwarz is a very accomplished leader. He is a Founder and Chairman of Visier, a software business focused on delivering analytics applications to business users. He currently serves as a director of Synopsys Corporation, Teradata Corporation, Avast Corporation, and as an advisor to the Dalhousie University.
In the interview Maggie and John share their story in the Avast board room. How John sponsored Maggie’s nomination into and more importantly participation in the board room. What that looked like and the actions he took to be her ally.
Please click the link below to listen to the full interview.
