While I didn’t have an internal mentor, early on I did have a sponsor. A sponsor is someone who is willing to advocate for you behind closed doors. He or she doesn’t have to have a real personal relationship with you but does need to have a lot of respect for your work. Once I became one of the senior people who would go into a room and evaluate the junior people, I realized how subjective the process really is, which just confirmed my belief in the importance of having someone who will go to bat for you.
