I've seen others my age form extremely valuable relationships with C-suite level folks at large companies who help shape their upward path in the company. The payoff seems to be enormous (promotions, doors opening, etc). It seems a large part of the benefit is the insights they receive that are massively valuable. For example, even something as seemingly small as pointing out who in the company is pushing for what behind the scenes, what process or gap in the company does leadership think needs improved and who do they think might be the right person to lead it, knowing who advocates for whom in leadership meetings, and basically just explaining the politics, is so incredible valuable because it helps be aware of things to stay away from, which fights aren't worth fighting (and which ones are), what area/cause/push to aggressively go after, who to align with, what areas to try to be visible and where to stay more low key, what direction the "winds" are blowing, etc.
My question is- how do these individuals form relationships like that? Obviously part of it is simply showcasing your potential and "worthiness" of mentorship through your work quality, having a presence, showing leadership signals, consistently "killing it" in high-impact/visible moments, but how does one actually go about initiating a relationship like that? (How do you seek it out, how do you actually show what value you could add to the relationship, how do you "ask" for mentorship at that level inside of a company)?
For context, I've had (and continue to have) mentors in my career but they're mostly former bosses (which are also extremely valuable), other senior folks I respect and formed relationships with at past companies, or just folks I've met through industry events and staying in touch. For this thread, I'd like to focus specifically on internal mentors at executive level of one's company, or at least beyond just your immediate supervisor.
Everything you said in your second paragraph is baseline - being capable, ability to deliver value, high impact etc. Beyond that it's building the most foundational aspect of a relationship - trust.
In banking and def in the corporate C-suite, people at that level have many MANY very capable and smart people they can call on at any time. But not a lot of people they can truly trust. It can be anything from bouncing ideas off to a complete offload of problems to solve or issues to tackle. That's what earning their trust gets you.
Been rocket fuel for my career. Their "endorsement", whether bringing you into a meeting or whatever, gets you the respect of other people. Their insight into what leadership is thinking, advice on how to navigate your way internally and often just clearing the path for you is invaluable.
The downside to this is you'll have hitched yourself to someone playing the game. As long as their star is on the rise, you're good. If they bounce or lose momentum, not so much.
Thank you for the response. Your point on trust being the most important factor makes perfect sense. Before the relationship gets to the point where the trust is built, how do you indicate that you are trustworthy to begin with? And do you initiate conversation with them to get the ball rolling, or what does that conception of the relationship look like typically?
I think getting in the door is EQ (are you personable, do they want to have a beer with you, are you generally normal to be around).. and then Rabbit could not have said it any better beyond that. My approach has always been to be open and meet as many people as possible at the onset, and as I learn the lay of the land, try to align myself with those as he mentioned are providing guidance, that i think can be good mentors down the road.. all to say you do have to get quite lucky with where you are and who you connect with.. but you can always increase surface area for luck to hit..
Appreciate the response. Makes sense that EQ and being intentional about being open and meeting people at the onset are how the relationship gets going. And increasing surface area to cast a wide net to get exposure and bump into the right people, and being selective or at least observatory about who to engage most with along the way. Thanks for the insight.
To be honest and to my detriment, I've never really been intentional about seeking out this kind of relationship. They just sort of fall into my path.
I just try to be chill. I don't ask for anything or "leverage the connection", be loyal and work hard to deliver when asked to step up. Be honest when asked for a view, including when I don't know something.
It really helps that the couple of these relationships I have are with genuinely good people who don't take advantage or treat me like a resource. I'm really lucky that way.
Take my views with a grain of salt as I have moved on from finance, however, I have had the benefit of securing senior stakeholder buy-in when in the industry as well as the industry I have moved on to.
The three inputs that drive mentorship/sponsorship relationships are: competence, client readiness, and demonstrated hunger/drive/eagerness. The less of one you have, the more of the others you need to signal or demonstrate. Competence is table stakes - you need to be delivering on the work that is assigned to you. Client readiness seems less common at the junior-to-mid level, particularly with underrepresented backgrounds (women + designated minorities + people who come from cultural backgrounds that pride diligentness and less self-promotion like Asian cultures). Demonstrated hunger is the key leg of the three-legged stool that I find many people interested in advancement are missing.
Bottom line is: you have to reach out and proactively secure these relationships.
Even the most organic relationships require a person landing on the radar of a senior person. This can be done in simple ways like asking insightful questions or making a strong callout in a meeting or sets of meetings, if you already have organic exposure to senior leaders (or senior leaders you want to develop a relationship with) or you can proactively reach out to people.
In most cases, for me, I was working on something interesting and reached out to the person or was introduced to the person that has become a sponsor or mentor. These days, in the startup world, this is easier for me because being an entrepreneur signals desirable qualities (drive, ambition, risk tolerance, etc.). But even when I was in finance, even as an intern, I did things like send someone I worked closely with articles related to the work we did after our internship as a way to keep in touch that someone remembered years later and brought up (it was completely not strategic but someone mentioned it to me years later. Even while an intern at GS IBD, I reached out to multiple divisional or group heads for 1:1 conversations and almost all of them were open meeting me and I found out other interns had also reached out to these individuals too.
This sort of outreach puts you on peoples' radar's and allows them to silently monitor your development, quality of questions/thoughts/rigor, executive presence, and more and decide to invest more deeply in you over time. Developing these relationships is like dating where you're attracted to someone in your social orbit and need to signal to gain their interest or seek them out proactively.
I am a woman and most people either dismiss women's opinions on networking due to attractiveness being an appeal for men to support them, however, I'm very average so I don't think that's a strong driver in my case. I see many women struggle with buy-in as well.
underpromise and overdeliver
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