Breaking Through the Glass Ceiling: Recommendations for Promoting Sponsorship to Guide Equitable Career Advancement.

Abstract

As the gender and racial equity gap in leadership persists, sponsorship is crucial to career advancement in academic medicine. While sponsorship is more commonly seen in the corporate sector, it remains underutilized in medicine, especially for women and faculty underrepresented in medicine. In this article, sponsorship opportunities are highlighted through case-based application with actionable tools for both sponsors and sponsees. Sponsors can learn to apply sponsorship concepts, and sponsees can explore asking for sponsorship. Three tangible themes will emerge to guide sponsorship: how to identify sponsorship through self-advocacy, intentionally align agendas, and "spotlight yet cover" during periods of growth. Finally, the importance of equity in sponsorship will be stated as a plea to sponsors to ensure diverse voices rise and to institutions to create more transparent processes and programming. By employing applicable scenarios, this paper guides sponsees and sponsors towards a productive sponsorship relationship and concludes with best practices.