Did you know that …

There are more CEOs named John than female CEOs in total?

Just 2 per cent of venture-capital investment goes to women?

While we've made significant strides since the suffragettes of the early 1900s, we have ways to go. One way we can move the dial is through the power of sponsorship.

Sponsorship – often confused with but very different from mentorship – is one step beyond advocacy: It's someone being your champion, putting their reputation on the line for your career advancement.

Different from mentorship, the sponsor/"sponsoree" relationship is always between a senior leader (someone with influence over career decisions) and someone more junior. Also, sponsorship is not asked for – it must be earned. Sponsorship often happens behind closed doors, and sometimes we don't realize we have sponsorship until we reflect back on pivotal career moments that would not have been likely based on merit alone.

According to 2016 research commissioned by Women of Influence and American Express Canada, women with sponsors are almost twice as likely to believe that reaching the C-suite is attainable (61 per cent versus 32 per cent over all)...

To read the full article by Naomi Titleman Colla, visit The Globe and Mail Inc.