What's an Amplification Buddy and How To Find One
“I don’t shine if you don’t shine.”
— AMINATOU SOW & ANN FRIEDMAN, co-hosts of Call Your Girlfriend and co-authors of Big Friendship
If you’ve never heard the idea of an “amplification buddy",” let alone never thought about how to find one - I’m giving you all the details about this incredible promotion strategy.
An amplification buddy is someone who uses their personal credibility to endorse someone else’s character, ideas, skills, strengths, and contributions so that person builds their credibleness.
An amplification buddy is also known as a sponsor, a hype person, a wing person, an advocate.
Think about it this way - it’s like creating your own “bro club” but for good.
Let’s say you’re at an event and a colleague introduces you to someone they think you should meet. Maybe they even mention a project you’re working on. If you pay attention to the body language of new person, you’ll likely see an indication that they want to hear more - from you. It’s like having your own personal emcee making an introduction for you. This is a form of amplification. It’s someone else opening a door for you by putting in a good word on your behalf.
Listen to this short clip from Tara McMullin’s podcast What Works where she interviews Samara Bay. Samara is the author of “Permission to Speak: How to Change What Power Sounds Like, Starting with You.” She shares the moment where a not-close-to-her colleague introduces her to a publisher. These types of intros are what I’m talking about!
Amplification became more of a concept in 2016 when the women on Obama’s staff started to repeat and credit each other’s ideas as a tactic to get noticed and lessen the chance of their ideas getting stolen.
“Female staffers adopted a meeting strategy they called “amplification”: When a woman made a key point, other women would repeat it, giving credit to its author. This forced the men in the room to recognize the contribution — and denied them the chance to claim the idea as their own.
“We just started doing it, and made a purpose of doing it. It was an everyday thing,” said one former Obama aide who requested anonymity to speak frankly. Obama noticed, she and others said, and began calling more often on women and junior aides.”
Amplification is also referenced as Shine Theory, coined by Ann Friedman, journalist, author, and co-host of the Call Your Girlfriend podcast), which is “a practice of mutual investment in each other.” As the Shine Theory website states:
“Shine Theory is an investment, over the long term, in helping someone be their best self—and relying on their help in return. It is a conscious decision to bring your full self to your friendships, and to not let insecurity or envy ravage them. Shine Theory is a commitment to asking, “Would we be better as collaborators than as competitors?” The answer is almost always yes.”
“Shine Theory is intentional. It is accountable. It is personal.
How do you find an amplification buddy?
First, we need to talk about the qualities that make for a good amplification buddy. You, too, will need these qualities so this relationship is reciprocal.
A willingness to collaborate. Your amplification relationship must be mutually beneficial. By partnering, you’ll each be gaining something that is valuable to you. It can’t be one-sided. But this means you each need to know what your goals are with the arrangement. It can’t be simply to “advance your career.” You must define it.
A solid reputation. They are seen as reliable, credible, and trustworthy. And no, they don’t need to be a subject matter expert in the same thing you are.
Social skills and high EQ. Your amplification buddy can’t be a hermit. They need to have social connections and be in rooms that are important to you. They also need to know how to read a moment and have the ability to tee you up and/or bring you up.
Don’t worry - you and your amplification buddy do not need to be the most popular or “employee of the month.”
What’s most important is having a willingness to promote each other in front of gate-keepers and decision makers.
12 examples opportunities for amplification and promotion:
There are so many different types of opportunities to promote one another and give credit where credit is due. I mentioned earlier that you each need to know what your “why” is for more visibility and credibility. What will it do for you and your career?
Do you want a promotion? A salary raise? Do you want to change roles or make a pivot? Do you need the ear of a specific person to open a door for you? Do you need a specific award that will build your credibility? Do you need to sell books or have a service/product to sell? Or want to get booked to speak?
Once you and your buddy have that articulated, you can be intentional when seeking out opportunities to bring one another up and what to spotlight. Here are 12 examples opportunities to promote one another:
Virtual / in-person team meeting - you’re in the same meeting and you’re discussing a project you know your buddy is working on. You jump in. “Hey, Courtney, weren’t you just telling me about an idea that relates to [name of project]. It was a solid one. Will you share with everyone else?”
or
“Courtney and I were just talking to a client and they loved her idea about [description of the idea.]”
Note: You may want to let them know you’ll be doing this so your buddy is prepared to make the most of the moment. Some people don’t like the spotlight sprung on them!
or
“Courtney had mentioned this idea at our last meeting.” (to ensure fair credit is given to the idea originator)
Hallway / informal run-in - you run into your buddy’s manager / person you know they’re trying to impress. You say to them: “Hey, I’ve been meaning to tell you I’ve been hearing how awesome it is to have Beth on this project.”
LinkedIn post - You are connected on LinkedIn and create a post about how great your colleague(s) are and tag your buddy, naming a positive quality of theirs that stands out to you.
Sharing a LinkedIn post of theirs - You are connected on LinkedIn and see your buddy has posted something. You share it and celebrate them. Check out my LinkedIn Bingo game for more ideas!
Commenting on a LinkedIn post of theirs - You see something your buddy posted and instead of scrolling past, you leave a nice comment complimenting them.
There’s an opening at work - You find the hiring manager and mention that you think your buddy would be great for the role and why. (If you have power/status - offer to write them a recommendation.)
You see an industry colleague posted a job you know would be great for your buddy - You find the post and tag your buddy in the comments section and say something like “they would be lucky to have you.”
You’re both at a work / networking event (in-person) - You discuss beforehand about who you’d like to meet and/or talk to. You ask each other what you’d like your main takeaway to be (e.g. “I want them to know I just got a certificate in this HR software.” or “I want them to hear about how well [idea] resonated with our client”) You approach the target person together and you open up the conversation with a smile and an intro / update about your buddy. Then you let your buddy take it from there. And they can do this for you, too!
You’re both at a work / networking event (online) - As you listen to the presenter, if there’s something that relates to your buddy’s work, you write in the chat “Hey [buddy’s name] - you were just telling me something similar!” or “Hey [buddy’s name] - this has you written all over it!” (Just be sure not to do this a bunch in the chat - it will look too obvious.)
You leave them a LinkedIn recommendation or a review in a place that’s important to them - And no, I’m not talking about a generic “they are a hard worker” recommendation. I want you to mention nitty-gritty details. What stellar characteristic makes this person stand out to you? What did you specifically work with them on and what were the stakes? What was it about their work style that makes you remember them? Share it!
Share their content/quote them - I want you to find something of theirs and share it with a really awesome caption about why someone else should check them out. If they are a content creator (e.g. they write posts/articles on LinkedIn, they written a book/e-book/article, have a podcast, produce videos, etc.) - this should be pretty easy.
If you are a content creator, how can you incorporate their content into yours? Can you bring them on as a guest on your podcast? Can you interview them as a subject matter expert for an article you are writing?
Nominate them for an award - Did you know people nominate themselves for awards all the time? And ask other people to nominate them, too? You can do this for each other. Awards are a great way to build credibility - even if they aren’t well known. Give your buddy language so they can nominate you accurately.
How do you ask someone to be your amplification buddy?
Now that I’ve gotten your wheels turning about the various promotion possibilities, how do you actually make this amplification buddy thing “official”? Personally, I think the best way is to be straight-forward about your goals.
Remember, amplification is meant to be an intentional, mutually-benficial strategy. That means communication about expectations is key to making it work because no one is a mind-reader.
Now may be a good time to read my post on the 5 Biases Getting in the Way of Your Career.
Once you identify someone with the three qualities I mentioned before (a willingness to collaborate because you know they also have career goals, a solid reputation, and high EQ), then it’s time to set up time for a conversation. If you send them an email, don’t give too much detail right away.
Keep it simple like “I have an idea for how we can collaborate that I can’t wait to tell you more about” with a few meeting options.
When you meet to discuss, open up the conversation with the concept of amplification and let them know where you learned of it.
“This coach I follow wrote about it on her blog and I think it could be something we try.”
or
“The women in the Obama Administration amplified each other to make sure their ideas were getting accurately credited.”
If they’re open, ask them what their career goals and share your own. Then make a list of the opportunities you have to promote them and them to promote you. I also recommend setting a timeframe for experimenting. “Let’s try this for Q1 and see how it goes.”
I’m going to say it one more time - communication is key. Make sure you and your amplification buddy are checking in with each other regularly. You don’t want to be surprised by a visibility opportunity you’re not prepared for. You also want to make sure your buddy is promoting the things you need them to promote. Don’t leave it up to them to know.
Bottom line: It’s not selfish to be clear with others about your career goals. If anything, it eliminates the guessing game. Using a strategy like amplification buddies to your advantage is something male-identifying people are socialized to do when it comes to promoting each other. It’s not dishonest. It’s working smarter, not harder by leveraging your connections.
If this strategy feels clunky to you, it may be because you haven’t taken the time to articulate what is remarkable about yourself. I recommend attending one of my monthly #IamRemarkable workshops. Check the website for upcoming dates.
You can also book a self-promotion roadmap call with me.
