Career growth isn’t just about talent or hard work—it’s about who’s willing to vouch for you when you’re not in the room.
This week on the Passion Struck Podcast, I sat down with Dr. Rosalind Chow—a Carnegie Mellon researcher and author of The Doors You Can Open—to explore the difference between mentorship and sponsorship and why sponsorship is a game-changer for equity and advancement in today’s workplace.
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Introducing The Ignition Room
Last week, we officially introduced The Listening Room—a dedicated community platform for Passion Struck listeners and supporters. It’s designed to deepen audience engagement around the podcast and provide a space for more meaningful interaction beyond the episodes.
The Listening Room will feature:
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We’ll also be using it as a touchpoint for future content drops, book releases, and live events.
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“The doors you can open are often invisible to you—but life-changing to someone else.”
Rosalind chow
In case you didn’t already know it, John R. Miles (@John_R_Miles) takes your comments and questions for Momentum Friday right here every week! If you want him to answer your question, register your feedback, or tell your story on one of our upcoming weekly Momentum Friday episodes, drop us a line at [email protected]. Now, let’s dive in!
Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Stitcher, Castbox, Google Podcasts, Listen Notes, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube below.
Rosalind Chow on The Power of Sponsorship: How One Advocate Can Change Everything
In this episode of Passion Struck, host John R. Miles sits down with Dr. Rosalind Chow, a leading organizational behavior expert at Carnegie Mellon and author of The Doors You Can Open. Together, they unpack the transformative power of sponsorship, where people in positions of power actively advocate, endorse, and open doors for others in ways that mentorship alone cannot.
Rosalind reveals how traditional networking often reinforces inequality and how strategic sponsorship can create more inclusive workplaces where untapped talent thrives. Drawing on compelling research, real-world stories, and cultural insights, this conversation will challenge how you think about influence, career mobility, and how we rise together.
Whether you’re looking to advance your own career or empower others, this episode will change how you view your role in someone else’s success.
Key Takeaways from This Episode with Dr. Rosalind Chow:
- The difference between mentorship and sponsorship—and why the latter creates greater opportunity
- How sponsorship helped Kim Ng become the first female GM in Major League Baseball
- The hidden ways bias shows up in networking and decision-making
- What does it mean to “leverage your power” to lift others without risking your own standing
- Why trust, social capital, and influence matter more than advice
- How organizations can embed sponsorship into their culture for lasting change
WHY IS THIS EPISODE WITH DR. ROSALIND CHOW A MUST-LISTEN?
This episode goes beyond surface-level career advice and drills into the structural forces that shape who succeeds—and who doesn’t. Whether you’re an executive, educator, entrepreneur, or early in your career, you’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of how influence truly works and what it takes to use your position to uplift others. Rosalind Chow brings clarity, nuance, and urgency to a conversation that affects us all, making this one of the most thought-provoking episodes yet.
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STARTER PACKS
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Why Sponsorship, Not Mentorship, May Be the Missing Link in Your Career
We’ve all heard the advice: “Find a mentor.” Someone who can guide you, offer feedback, and help you grow. But what if mentorship alone isn’t enough? What if it’s not just about who teaches you, but who’s willing to speak your name in the rooms you’re not in?
That’s where sponsorship comes in—and it’s the game-changer Dr. Rosalind Chow wants us to understand.
In our recent Passion Struck conversation, Rosalind, a Carnegie Mellon researcher and author of The Doors You Can Open, explained the critical distinction between mentorship and sponsorship. Mentors offer support. Sponsors offer an opportunity.
They don’t just advise you—they advocate for you. They take risks on your behalf. They use their credibility to shift how others see them.
Rosalind shared a powerful story about Kim Ng, the first female general manager in Major League Baseball. Despite decades of experience, Ng was continuously overlooked until someone finally sponsored her, publicly backing her potential and shifting the narrative. That one act changed everything.
Sponsorship, Rosalind notes, isn’t just about professional generosity. It’s about leveraging influence to correct systemic inequities. Especially for those who have been historically marginalized, it can mean the difference between stagnation and acceleration.
But here’s the real takeaway: You don’t need to be a CEO to be a sponsor. You just need enough credibility in your circle to help someone else’s light get seen.
So ask yourself:
- Who in your orbit is consistently excellent but under-recognized?
- Who needs someone to reframe how they’re perceived?
- And what doors can you open that would shift the trajectory of their story?
In a world where so much depends on perception, Rosalind reminds us that we all have the power to change how others are seen. You don’t have to mentor the masses—but you can sponsor someone’s breakthrough.
And in doing so, you might just redefine your own legacy.
THANKS, DR. ROSALIND CHOW
If you enjoyed this interview with Rosalind Chow, let her know by clicking on the link below and sending her a quick shout on LinkedIn
Click here to show Dr. Rosalind Chow your thoughts about today’s episode on LinkedIn.
Click here to let John R. Miles know about your number one takeaway from this episode!
If you want us to answer your questions or you want John to discuss a topic on one of our upcoming Momentum Friday episodes, drop us a line at [email protected].
RESOURCES FROM THE SHOW WITH DR. ROSALIND CHOW
Please note that some of the links on this page (books, movies, music, etc.) lead to affiliate programs for which The Passion Struck podcast receives compensation. It’s just one of the ways we keep the lights on around here. Thank you so much for being so supportive!
- Dr. Rosalind Chow’s Website
- Dr. Rosalind Chow’s Twitter
- Rosalind Chow’s LinkedIn
- BUY Dr. Rosalind Chow’s Book The Doors You Can Open
- Passion Struck Core Value System: https://passionstruck.com/the-passion-struck-core-belief-system/
- Listen to Passion Struck’s interviews with New York Times bestselling authors Gretchen Rubin and Seth Godin.
- Check out Passion Struck’s Episode Starter Packs on Spotify or Passion Struck starter packs to get started with the podcast.
My solo episode on The Mattering Mindset in Love – Choose the Love You Deserve
My episode with The Art of Listening: How to Make People Feel Like They Matter
Catch my interview with Laurie Santos on How to Matter in a Busy World
About Today’s Guest, Dr. Rosalind Chow
Rosalind Chow is a renowned organizational psychologist and Associate Professor at Carnegie Mellon University’s Tepper School of Business. Known for her bold and insightful research, Rosalind investigates how power, race, and status dynamics shape who gets ahead—and why. Her work dismantles the illusion of meritocracy and highlights the hidden forces that quietly influence advancement, leadership, and opportunity within institutions.
She is the author of The Doors You Can Open, a transformative book that challenges conventional ideas about success and sponsorship. In it, Rosalind reveals how access—not just ability—is often the missing link in professional growth. Drawing from decades of research, she offers a compelling roadmap for how individuals and organizations can become more intentional about unlocking opportunity for others.
With a Ph.D. from Stanford University and a track record of publishing in leading academic journals, Rosalind’s work bridges cutting-edge scholarship with real-world impact. Her insights have been featured in major media and are reshaping how leaders think about mentorship, sponsorship, and the structures of power.
Through her research, teaching, and public speaking, Rosalind Chow empowers people to not just walk through the doors that open for them—but to hold them open for others, too.
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