????IBM公司全球商業服務業務高級副總裁布里吉特?范?克拉林根（位列《財富》“最具影響力女性”排行榜第23位）以自身職業生涯兩個不同時間節點的故事，為我們闡述了導師和擔保人的區別。

????當她首次加入德勤咨詢公司（Deloitte Consulting）時，從南非的老家搬到了美國。“紐約一位年輕的合伙人示意我坐下，然后說，‘布里吉特，你擁有巨大的潛力，但你有些過于謙和了。’那的確是非常好的指導意見！”她說。“它幫助我理解了文化的差異，我很快就適應了。”她最終成為德勤咨詢公司金融服務業務管理合伙人。

????2004年，范?克拉林根進入IBM公司。自1916年老托馬斯?沃森創建IBM以來，“導師制”就一直是該公司管理培訓的組成部分。CEO吉尼?羅曼提（位列最具影響力女性排行榜首位）曾經正式或非正式地指導過數十位男女員工，她自身職業生涯幾次關鍵的晉升也與其導師的貢獻密不可分。

????范?克拉林根回憶稱，在這家綽號為“藍色巨人（Big Blue）”的公司，“一位擔保人推舉我擔任歐洲和非洲金融服務業務的負責人——盡管我欠缺在IBM的工作經驗。正是他的鼎力支持，最終才說服了公司高層，冒險啟用我出任這個職務。”

????換言之，導師幫助人們做好升職的前期準備，而擔保則促使升職實實在在地發生。對于任何一位渴望出人頭地的公司職員來說，兩者都“極其重要”，范?克拉林根說。一條不太好的消息是：雖然大多數大型公司現在都在實施員工指導項目，而且在具備擢升為管理高層潛質的員工群體中，擁有多位導師的女性員工數量已經超過了男性。但根據非營利性研究機構Catalyst公司的調查，自1998年以來，女性在高級管理人員中所占的比重幾乎沒有發生變化，僅僅從當時的11.2% 提升到了現在的15.7%。

????根據Catalyst公司一項針對4,000位男女MBA的研究，出現這種情況的一大原因在于，男性獲得有影響力的擔保人的幾率依然高于女性。“相對于男性同僚，具有升職潛能的女性員工雖然擁有多位導師，但愿意為她們作保的人卻嚴重不足，”Catalyst公司高級主管克里斯蒂娜?席爾瓦指出。“如果沒有引路人，女性員工就不大可能被委以重任，或許也就更不愿意去追逐這些高級職位了。”

????由于幫助下屬升職需要一位高管動用自己的政治資本，用他或她自身的聲譽去冒險，為某人充當擔保人的風險要遠高于提供指導意見。“所謂擔保就是一位有影響力的人士愿意信誓旦旦地拍胸脯為你作保，”克萊爾?法利指出。法利女士曾經以德士古公司（Texaco）北美石油和天然氣勘探業務主管的身份，躋身1998年“最具影響力女性”排行榜。她之所以能夠在30多歲的時候就擔任如此重要的職位，一定程度上應歸功于一位位高權重的擔保人。她現在著名的私募股權基金KKR公司擔任董事總經理。

????“提前了解一個人的領導潛能幾乎是不可能的事情。有些高管能從下屬身上看到自己年輕時的影子，因此愿意為他們作保，這或許僅僅是人的本能而已。因此，男性往往傾向于為其他男性充當擔保人，”法利補充說。

????Bridget Van Kralingen, senior vice president of global business services at IBM (andNo. 23 on our list of Most Powerful Women), tells two stories, from different points in her career, that illustrate the difference between a mentor and a sponsor.

????When she first joined Deloitte Consulting, she also moved from her native South Africa to the U.S. "A young partner in New York sat me down and said, 'Bridget, you have tremendous potential, but you're way too nice and polite.' That was great mentoring!" she says. "It helped me understand the cultural differences. I quickly adapted." She eventually became managing partner of Deloitte's financial services business.

????Then, in 2004, Van Kralingen joined IBM (IBM), which has included mentoring as part of its management training since Thomas Watson, Sr. founded the company in 1916. CEO Ginni Rometty, who tops our list, has mentored dozens of women and men, both formally and informally, and credits mentors for several key promotions in her own career.

????At Big Blue, Van Kralingen recalls, "I had a sponsor who recommended me to run the financial services part of IBM's business consulting services in Europe and Africa -- in spite of my lack of IBM experience. His advocacy both helped IBM to take a risk on me and helped me navigate the job."

????Mentoring, in other words, prepares people to move up, while sponsorship makes it happen. Both are "critically important," says Van Kralingen, to anyone aspiring to get ahead. The not-so-great news: Most big companies now have embraced mentoring and, in the high-potential pipeline that leads to senior management, more women than men have had multiple mentors. Yet the percentage of senior executives who are female has barely budged since 1998, creeping up from 11.2% then to 15.7% now, according to nonprofit research group Catalyst.

????A big reason why that's so, according to one Catalyst study of 4,000 MBAs of both sexes, is that men are still more likely than women to have powerful sponsors. "High-potential women are overmentored and undersponsored, relative to their male peers," observes Christine Silva, a Catalyst senior director. "Without sponsorship, women not only are less likely than men to be appointed to top roles, but may also be more reluctant to go for them."

????Because it requires a senior executive to spend his or her own political capital, and put his or her own credibility on the line, to give an underling a leg up, sponsoring someone is far riskier than mentoring them. "A sponsor is someone influential who will pound the table for you," notes Claire Farley, who appeared on our 1998 list as head of North American oil and gas exploration at Texaco (since merged with Chevron (CVX)) -- a job she took on while still in her 30s, thanks partly to a high-ranking sponsor. She's now a managing director at private-equity powerhouse KKR (KKR) in Houston.

????Farley adds: "There is so much that is impossible to know ahead of time about anyone's leadership potential, it's probably just human nature for people to sponsor people who remind them of their younger selves. So men tend to sponsor other men."