renew the torch someone held out to you?
“Sponsorship takes some risk.”
…I wrote that in 2019 about my father-in-law. He was a minister, and back in the early ’60s he backed women in ministry when that was not a popular stance. Not a nod here and there. He nudged committees to actually hire women, and a lot of them point to him as the reason they had a career at all. 1 of his parishioners rose to Dean of the seminary he helped save in the 80s. He spent his name on them, early and often.
Whose career has your name on it… even though your name appears nowhere in it?
42 years after a Denny’s on Sunset…
…The Go-Go’s were still a band. They had started there in 1978 with almost no training. On July 31, 2020 they put out Club Zero, written by Charlotte Caffey and Jane Wiedlin, their first new single since 2001, released alongside the Showtime documentary about them. The next year they went into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, inducted by Drew Barrymore, and played Vacation, Our Lips Are Sealed and We Got the Beat. And in 2026 the Library of Congress picked Beauty and the Beat for the National Recording Registry. renewal… A band that kept celebrating what they built together.
…and to renew is to celebrate who you built
The Signpost for renew is the leader who keeps the team celebrating and rewarding success, all the time, and makes room for renewal and reflection, for the team and for themselves. Rewards growth in the people around them. Keeps a conscious balance between work and life. The Roadblock stops learning, never shares the wins with the team, and burns out.
The torch only passes if somebody holds it out.
Most women who step out want back in
93% of highly qualified women who stepped out of their careers wanted to return. And 6 in 10 senior women say they frequently feel burned out, which is the Roadblock showing up in the numbers. The leaders who renew well are the ones who notice both, and keep a door held open. Women who deal with small daily slights are 4.2 times more likely to almost always feel burned out, so the celebrating is maintenance.
And for the men in the room, the evidence is clear enough to act on. In 2019, 36% of men said they had avoided mentoring or socializing with a woman. There is a whole research-based guide on how men can mentor and sponsor women well, and it argues that the way men have always mentored men needs adapting for women. Sit down with her anyway. Then say her name.
empowering her is not a single promotion. It is a torch, renewed… and handed on.
The renewing Women’s empowerment photo
There is a famous photo in our family. Our daughter Amie, a baby, reaching up to touch her grandfather’s mouth. At the time it was a sweet picture. About 25 years later Amie heard the call to become a minister herself, and we have seen it differently ever since… the passing of the torch. That tiny premie is a Pastor now, and a mother. He sponsored women in ministry his whole life. 1 of them turned out to be his granddaughter.
Your “Simple… Not Easy” move: write a note by hand to the woman who spent her name on you, or to the one you spent yours on. Tell her what it made possible. Then mail it. A week of empower can end with a stamp.
Helping leaders renew long enough to see who they built is work I need as much as anyone. Schedule time with me here.
They started at a Denny’s with zero training. Every one of us started at… Club Zero
