From Ally to Champion: A Growth Path of Commitment

Rob Douglas
Jul 15
6 min read

A framework for understanding how leaders progressively invest their attention, experience, development, reputation, and power in the success of others.

“Leadership is measured not only by the opportunities we receive, but by the opportunities we create for others.”

A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to join the Society of Women Engineers’ Diverse Podcast to discuss allyship, sponsorship, and leadership. Our conversation centered around the role of Leadership in promoting Allyship within organizations. I wanted to take this opportunity to go a little deeper into the ideas I discussed there.

For years I’ve heard people talk about allies, mentors, coaches, sponsors, and champions as though they were different kinds of people.

I no longer think they are.

I think they represent a progression of commitment on a journey in which we invest increasingly valuable parts of ourselves in the success of others.

The deeper our commitment becomes, the more of ourselves we invest.

The deeper our commitment becomes, the more of ourselves we invest:

first our attention,
then our experience,
eventually our reputation,
and finally our influence and power.

Allyship Is Not a Label

One of the things I said during the podcast is that allyship isn’t a label you give yourself. It’s a relationship that others recognize through your actions.

Anyone can decide they want to help.

Only the people you support can decide whether you’ve earned their trust.

That subtle distinction matters.

An ally is not someone who announces, “I’m an ally.”

An ally is someone whose actions consistently communicate:

“I’m here. I believe in you. I care about your success.”

Allyship is relational.

It is built one conversation, one act of listening, and one moment of trust at a time.

An Invitation I Didn’t Expect

Several years ago, I attended a meeting with a senior leader along with a couple of peers, male and female.

I remember being excited to have the opportunity to talk about my work and ideas directly with leadership. I respected this leader, and I was focused on the conversation, the questions I wanted to ask, and the chance to learn. I was so focused on what this opportunity meant for me that I wasn’t paying attention to how someone else might be experiencing the very same conversation.

After the meeting, one of my female colleagues asked me if I had noticed that every time this leader answered a question, he directed the answer toward me or the other male.

I hadn’t noticed. Of course I hadn’t, because I was not looking for it. I don’t know whether the senior leader intended any of it.

That isn’t the point.

The point is that my colleague experienced the meeting differently than I did.

While I was focused on the technical discussion, she was simultaneously evaluating whether she was being heard fairly.

Until she shared that with me, I hadn’t realized there were two meetings taking place.

That conversation changed me. For one thing, I recognized that even sharing this insight and bringing it to my attention was a moment of vulnerability, and a gift of trust, and an invitation. I had been invited into allyship.

Awareness Creates Responsibility

That experience taught me something I haven’t forgotten.

It is one thing to be unaware of a problem, but it is another thing entirely to ignore it after you’ve been made aware of it. The more we know, the less we can go back and ignore.

And at every level of leadership, you have the ability to shape the experiences of those around you.

Once you are aware of a problem or challenge affecting others, you have a responsibility to do something about it. As we gain more power and influence in an organization, we have a greater ability to enact change, and a greater obligation to do so.

A Progression of Commitment

As I began to study the work around allyship and invest in the Society of Women Engineers, I learned about different types of Allies. I heard about Mentors, and I heard about Sponsors. But in most of the talks I had seen or articles I read, they seemed like different people.

At first, this seemed contradictory to me.

If you ask an early-career engineer about the people who have helped them, they’ll probably describe several different individuals. A peer mentor. A manager who coaches. Maybe even a sponsor who provides new opportunities. From their perspective, these are distinct relationships, each serving a different purpose at a particular moment in time.

But when I step back and look across my own career, I see something different.

I don’t see different kinds of people.

I see the same leadership journey unfolding over time.

As our experience, influence, and responsibility grow, the ways we invest in others naturally deepen as well. The ally who listens today may become the mentor who broadens perspective tomorrow, the coach who develops talent later, the sponsor who opens doors, and eventually the champion who changes the system itself.

The roles haven’t changed because the person changed.

They’ve changed because their level of commitment has.

And each step represents an investment of something more valuable than the one before it.

Ally

Allies stand beside another person or community. They listen, encourage, validate experiences, and sometimes respectfully challenge assumptions. Support isn’t always agreement. Often the greatest act of allyship is helping someone think differently while remaining fully committed to their success.

An ally invests attention.

Allies help us feel seen.

Mentor

Mentors broaden our perspective. They’ve walked roads we haven’t yet and help us recognize opportunities we might never have considered. Rather than solving our problems, they help us see farther than we could on our own.

A mentor invests experience.

Mentors help us see farther.

Coach

A coach helps us move toward goals we have chosen. They listen more than they speak, ask thoughtful questions, provide accountability, and develop capability rather than dependence. Their success isn’t measured by what they accomplish, but by what they help others accomplish.

A coach invests development.

Coaches help us perform better.

Sponsor

Something changes when someone becomes a sponsor. Sponsors don’t simply advise us. They use their own credibility to create opportunities. They recommend us, introduce us, and speak for us when we aren’t in the room. Every recommendation carries risk because they’re investing something they spent years earning: their reputation.

A sponsor invests reputation.

A recent Harvard Business Review study found that men are three times more likely than women to be encouraged toward operational P&L leadership roles, and nearly half receive detailed coaching on how to reach them, compared with only 15% of women. Those opportunities rarely appear on their own.

Someone usually opens the door.

Sponsors help others see us.

Champion

Champions represent the deepest investment. They stop asking how to help one individual succeed and begin asking how to create an environment where many people can succeed. Champions build structures that continue creating opportunities long after they’re gone.

A champion invests power and influence.

Champions accept institutional risk. They understand that changing systems may cost political capital, relationships, or even advancement. But they also recognize that power isn’t accumulated for its own sake. Its purpose is to create opportunities for others and build organizations worthy of the people within them.

Champions change what everyone gets to see.

Why This Matters

One of the reasons I like thinking about these roles as a journey is that anyone can begin today. You don’t have to be a senior leader to become an ally.

In Fixing the “Broken Rung” in the Ladder to Success (2020), it is noted that for every 100 men promoted into first-line management, 72 women receive that same opportunity. That first promotion shapes an entire career.

As engineers, we’re trained to solve problems by understanding systems rather than simply reacting to symptoms.

If someone needs to be seen, be an ally.

If they need perspective, be a mentor.

If they need development, be a coach.

If they need opportunity, be a sponsor.

If the system itself needs to change, become a champion.

You Don’t Have to Start at the Top

No one begins as a champion—and that’s exactly how it should be.

Influence, credibility, and trust are earned over time. The question isn’t, “Am I a champion?” It’s:

“Where am I today, and what is the next investment I can make?”

Leadership isn’t about accumulating influence. It’s about investing influence.

My hope is that this framework helps leaders see allies, mentors, coaches, sponsors, and champions not as isolated roles, but as a progression of commitment—a journey in which we invest increasingly valuable parts of ourselves in the people and communities we serve.

Leadership is measured not only by the opportunities we receive, but by the opportunities we create for others.

Continue the Conversation

I recently had the privilege of discussing many of these ideas with Laurie Shuster and David Parrillo on the Society of Women Engineers’ Diverse Podcast.

🎧 Listen to the episode here: