Sponsorship is the act of taking responsibility for, and endorsing, someone or something.  People inadvertently take stands and positions on a multitude of topics based on little more than whim or desperate response to something external.  Great leadership is about sponsoring the right things at the right time to bring about the right results for the right reasons.  Sponsorship is the defining behavior of leadership.  We can talk about leadership as an ideal, but sponsorship is where leaders put purpose into action.

Sponsorship is about holding up a vision and ideals that would benefit the community, making a case for them, helping people see both sides of the issues and then walking the community in the direction of that vision and those ideals.  A leader that understands sponsorship realizes that their vision for the community cannot be too far out of line for what the community wants for itself and yet they are willing to stretch the community in ways that are necessary for its survival and thriving.