Most people think influence comes after authority.
Once I'm a manager, I'll mentor junior colleagues.
Once I'm a director, I'll introduce people to opportunities.
Once I have enough influence, I'll share credit, connect people, and help others get ahead.
We imagine generosity is something we can afford once we've made it.
A Different Pattern Emerges
But if you look closely at the careers of people who are consistently trusted with bigger responsibilities, a different pattern emerges. They didn't become generous after promotion. Promotion simply amplified habits they had been practising for years.
A. P. J. Abdul Kalam is one such example.
Long before he led India's missile programme or became President, colleagues remembered him for remarkably ordinary things. He wandered into other laboratories to understand what other teams were working on. He listened as carefully to technicians as he did to senior scientists. He asked questions more often than he gave answers. He connected people who could help each other. He was generous with credit and sparing with praise for himself.
None of these behaviours required authority or power.
They were simply how he worked.
By the time leaders like Vikram Sarabhai and Satish Dhawan entrusted him with increasingly important responsibilities, they weren't taking a leap of faith. They had spent years watching how he behaved when he had very little power.
They Are Making a Prediction
That, I think, is the part we often miss.
We assume sponsors evaluate our competence. Of course they do. But they are evaluating something else as well.
They are making a prediction.
If this person has more influence tomorrow, what kind of colleague will they become?
Will they make the team stronger or only themselves more visible?
Will they share credit or hoard it?
Will they build trust?
Will they be someone others want to work with?
Every Interaction Becomes Evidence
Those questions are answered long before anyone has the authority to promote you.
Every interaction becomes evidence.
The colleague you help when there is nothing in it for you.
The newcomer you take the time to include.
The credit you give away.
The introduction you make.
The way you speak about someone when they are not in the room.
The favour you do because it matters, not because it will be repaid.
Sponsorship Is a Reputational Investment
None of these actions guarantees sponsorship.
But together they create something more valuable than a polished LinkedIn profile or a perfectly rehearsed networking conversation. They build a reputation.
And sponsorship, at its heart, is a reputational investment.
When someone sponsors you, they are spending their own credibility on your behalf. They are saying, "I believe this person will justify my confidence." That is not a decision most people make because you asked. It is a decision they arrive at after watching you over time.
We Ask the Wrong Question
This is one of the ideas at the heart of political literacy.
Political literacy is often misunderstood as learning how to influence powerful people. I think it is something more nuanced than that. It is understanding that every interaction contributes to the story other people tell themselves about you. Your reputation isn't built only in moments of high visibility. It is built in ordinary moments that nobody thinks are particularly important until, one day, they are.
That is why I think we ask the wrong question.
Instead of asking, How do I find a sponsor?, perhaps we should be asking, How do I become someone worth spending political capital on?
My latest guide explores exactly that. Not how to ask someone to become your sponsor, but how sponsorship is built over time through performance, reciprocity, loyalty, and relationships that begin long before you need anything from them.
Frequently asked questions
Why is generosity a prerequisite for power rather than a reward for it?
Because the people who decide who gets more responsibility are watching how you behave before you have any. Generosity after promotion tells them nothing new. Generosity when there is nothing in it for you is the only evidence they can use, and it is the evidence they rely on.
What do sponsors actually look for before they back someone?
Competence is the entry condition, not the decision. Beyond that, a sponsor is making a prediction: if this person has more influence tomorrow, what kind of colleague will they become? Will they share credit or hoard it, strengthen the team or only their own visibility? That prediction is built from years of ordinary interactions, not from a single conversation.
How do you become someone worth sponsoring?
By building a reputation rather than a pitch. Helping a colleague when there is nothing in it for you, including a newcomer, giving credit away, making the introduction, speaking well of people when they are not in the room. No single act guarantees sponsorship. Together they create something a polished profile or a rehearsed networking conversation cannot.
Is asking someone to be your sponsor the wrong approach?
Sponsorship is a reputational investment: the sponsor spends their own credibility on your behalf. That is rarely a decision someone makes because they were asked. It is one they arrive at after watching you over time, which is why how sponsorship is built matters more than how it is requested.