Aurum guide
Corporate sponsorship: when advice is not enough.
Mentorship helps someone think. Sponsorship makes sure the right people know what she has already done, then attaches a name and a date to the next action.
Mentorship
Advice in the room.
A mentor can help someone prepare, reflect and make a decision. That support matters. It does not guarantee that her work travels into the room where opportunities are allocated.
Sponsorship
Advocacy in the other room.
A sponsor uses accurate words about her work when her name comes up, introduces her to someone who does not already know it, or puts her forward for a suitable role.
Why the speaker matters
The same work can land differently when someone else carries the story.
Research on the double bind shows that women can face social penalties when they behave in ways associated with leadership, while work on the speaker effect shows that advocacy can be received differently when another person delivers it. Corporate sponsorship changes who carries the evidence into consequential conversations.
Sources: Rudman, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 1998.
Moss-Racusin and Rudman, Psychology of Women Quarterly, 2010.
The accountable version
A commitment, not a vague promise.
The words
The woman decides how her work is described. The sentence remains accurate and hers.
The action
The sponsor names what they will do: mention, introduce or put forward.
The date
The action has a due date, so goodwill can become visible follow-through.
Aurum's method
Ninety days. Named commitments. One measured result.
Aurum records participation and sponsor follow-through, then compares the sponsored cohort with a matched control group. Private sentences, reflections and recordings remain outside the employer view.
See how the pilot works