WeQual Rising Leaders: The Power of Sponsorship & Networks
Talent and hard work are not enough. If no one is advocating for you when decisions are made, your impact remains limited. Performance builds credibility. Sponsorship builds opportunity.
Many high-performing rising leaders stall not from lack of capability, but from lack of visible sponsorship. The gap isn’t performance – it’s advocacy, access, and strategic connection.
In this session, you’ll explore how influence is built at senior levels: through the right relationships, the right signals, and behavior which gains senior leaders’ trust. Not informal networking. Not self-promotion. Strategic credibility.
We’ll examine how decision-makers truly assess potential, why some leaders attract backing while others plateau, and what quietly limits access, even for top performers. Grounded in lived-executive experience, this session is direct, practical, and immediately applicable.
Without visible sponsorship, even strong performance may go unnoticed. This session shows you how to expand your influence deliberately and credibly.
By the end of this session, you will be equipped to:
- Demonstrate leadership behaviors senior leaders’ support
- Build relationships that create access to opportunity
- Influence decisions beyond your formal remit
- Build and activate a strategic sponsorship plan
By the end, you will know whose advocacy meaningfully shapes your trajectory and how to earn it.
Miranda Ratajski – Chief Information Officer, Group Business Units, Westpac
Miranda leads enterprise technology across Westpac’s core business functions, driving performance, resilience, and meaningful customer outcomes at scale. With over 30 years of global experience across government, telecommunications, and financial services, she brings deep expertise in large-scale transformation and future-ready technology strategy. She offers practical insights into leading through complexity, influencing at executive level, and building strong pipelines of women in technology.
