Before Kim Ng became Major League Baseball’s first female general manager, she was passed over—despite decades of experience and undeniable qualifications. What finally opened the door? A phone call from Derek Jeter. As Rosalind Chow explains in The Doors You Can Open, this isn’t just a compelling sports anecdote. It’s a powerful example of sponsorship—when someone with influence uses their voice and credibility to help others be seen.
“I’m not actually a baseball fan,” Rosalind told me, “but I chose Kim Ng’s story because it captures something so important: being qualified isn’t always enough. Sometimes, you need someone willing to open the door for you.”
In our conversation, Rosalind unpacked what it takes to build that kind of trust—and how we can all play a role in creating workplaces where inclusion is more than a policy. “This wasn’t mentorship,” she said. “It was sponsorship. A mentor talks to you. A sponsor talks about you. And what that highlights is who’s being asked to change. Mentorship focuses on improving the individual. Sponsorship shifts the environment to help others recognize someone’s value.”
Her perspective flips the usual script on networking and leadership, and it makes a strong case for why the quiet ways we advocate for others might just be the most transformative.
The Power of “Good Gossip”
This idea—changing the social environment—is central to Rosalind’s philosophy. She even suggests that gossip, when used intentionally, can be a force for good.
“Good gossip is talking someone up behind their back,” she said. “I recently told a group during a Zoom call that my colleague—who happened to have his own paintings in the background—is actually an accomplished artist with gallery exhibitions. He’d never brag about that himself. But when you speak positively about someone in spaces where others can hear it, you’re opening doors they can’t open alone.”
This is what sponsorship looks like in practice. It’s not always about job offers or promotions. It’s about trust, credibility, and reputation, built and shared over time.
Four Ways to Sponsor
In her book, Rosalind outlines four key forms of sponsorship, each suited to different contexts:
- Introducing – Telling someone about a person they don’t yet know.
- Confirming – Reinforcing positive impressions someone already has.
- Protecting – Challenging negative impressions or defending someone in critical conversations.
- Elevating – Actively connecting someone to opportunity or influence.
“Sponsorship isn’t one-size-fits-all,” she explained. “It depends on the situation—what the relationship looks like, what’s at stake, and whether the person being sponsored is known or unknown to others.”
Networking Without the “Ick”
We also explored how this connects to networking. As someone who gets a little anxious at the word “networking,” I appreciated Rosalind’s honest take.
“Networking often feels transactional because we’ve been taught to seek out ‘high-value targets,’” she said. “But when you think of it in terms of social capital—human connections, shared trust, diverse perspectives—it becomes less about ladder-climbing and more about community-building.”
She contrasts two types of social capital using a hypothetical “cage match” between George Clooney and Elon Musk (a metaphor she now jokes she regrets, given Musk’s growing controversy). Clooney represents “small-town” capital—tight-knit, trusted networks. Musk represents “big-city” capital—broad, diverse, and information-rich. Ideally, she says, leaders need both.
Trust as the Foundation
A key message from The Doors You Can Open is that trust must be the foundation of any effective sponsorship program. Rosalind described a formal initiative she helped design where sponsors weren’t just paired arbitrarily with protégés—they were matched based on intentional criteria. And before they were ever asked to “sponsor,” they were given time to simply get to know their protégés as people.
“For five months, we didn’t ask the sponsors to do anything except build a relationship,” she said. “Because trust isn’t about titles or performance. It’s about connection. And you can’t rush that.”
It’s this approach that counters the illusion of meritocracy, which Rosalind believes often fails because, as she put it, “We don’t agree on what merit actually is.”
The Myth of Meritocracy and the Risk of Homophily
Meritocracy is a flawed ideal, she argues, because it assumes an objective, shared understanding of what performance means—when in reality, assessments of value are deeply subjective and shaped by bias.
That’s why homophily, the tendency to form relationships with people similar to us, is so dangerous in the workplace. Left unchecked, it reinforces sameness and limits opportunity for those who don’t fit the mold.
“If we want to break that, we need structured, intentional efforts,” Rosalind said. “In the military, for example, people of different backgrounds work together toward a shared goal. It’s one of the few environments that truly disrupts homophily.”
An Inclusive Path Forward
As we wrapped up, I asked Rosalind for a final takeaway. What should we all be doing to create more inclusive workplaces?
“Everyone can be a sponsor,” she said. “You don’t need to be Derek Jeter. If someone trusts you, that means you have influence. You can use that to connect people, to elevate others, to speak positively when they’re not in the room.”
And if you’re looking for a practical place to start?
“Think of someone you admire and ask yourself: who should know this person? Then make that connection. That’s sponsorship.”
In a world still too obsessed with climbing ladders, The Doors You Can Open offers a powerful reminder: sometimes the most transformative thing we can do is reach back and open the door for someone else.
Brandon Laws is a workplace culture and leadership enthusiast, host of the Transform Your Workplace podcast, and VP of Marketing and Product at Xenium HR.