Babes On Bay Street

Archive for 'women' Category

Robin. Relationships, Role Models, Mentors, Leaders and Leadership

I asked Robin to tell me about the relationships in her life which she believes had the greatest impact on her and in particular her work life and career. She said: “That’s a loaded question but obviously my parents had a great impact. My dad was a great sales person but he was what my mum would refer to as a diamond in the rough.  He was not highly educated but he managed to make it on his incredible personality, charm, and salesmanship which is something they tell me I inherited a little bit of. My mum was prim and proper and had rules and regulations for the household. She was stern but warm and loving and wonderful. She instilled ...

What is the difference between sponsors and mentors? Another perspective.

This question took me on a long and cathartic journey through my corporate career. At first, I just rummaged through my memory identifying pivotal people and events that would qualify for each of the categories but then I decided to get organized and prepared a 3 column chart – Mentor/ Mentor-Sponsor/ Sponsor. The chart in the end (after all the column switching) fairly reflected my experience with the three groupings and I was now in a position to properly answer the question – or at least try to.   Before presenting my findings, it may be helpful to understand how I defined each category: A mentor was someone, at both my own seniority level and also one or ...