Someday, when 2020, COVID-19 and a few more years are behind us, Cynt Marshall and Jeannie Buss won’t be the only female Chief Executive Officers in the NBA.
And, someday, Marshall won’t be the only African-American woman who is a CEO in the league.
To that end, Marshall took part Monday in the FIBA-sponsored ADELANTE program, a global initiative aimed at grooming young women for positions of power in the future of the sports world. At a time when the NFL is working to amend the so-called “Rooney Rule” to give minorities more opportunities to be head coaches and in other positions, FIBA is starting at the grass roots.
The 90-minute conference call included at least one young candidate from all 43 national basketball federations, as well as the FIBA offices.
To them all, Marshall had some strong ideas about how to get positioned to make a difference and climb the corporate ladder and perhaps end up in a leadership role at some point.
It should come as no surprise that Marshall stressed teamwork. And she used one of her favorite quotations from Teddy Roosevelt: “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
“What I have learned is it is all about people,” she told the audience that was connected via Zoom. “If you treat people right, you can get good results.
“If you just have a bottom-line focus on results, on shoving a product out the door, a focus on winning without really cultivating relationships and embracing people, it won’t work.
“It’s all about people. You got to get to know who they are, you got to invest in them, listen to them, learn them and love them.”
It’s the same philosophy Marshall has utilized over the last two years as CEO of the Mavericks and it has led to the front office becoming a model for inclusion and diversity.
Sometimes, it has to manifest itself in tough love and coaching younger people through the perils of business decision-making isn’t easy.
Marshall made sure to explain that rising through the ranks in the entrepreneurial world is not always easy. In fact, it rarely is.
“People unfortunately fire themselves – bad decisions, poor performance, whatever,” Marshall said. “Even with that, it is very hard. This is their livelihood. You think: what are they going to do next? What are their kids going to do?
“But you have to do what’s best for the corporation. I am a praying woman. So by the time I have to take some kind of action, I have prayed my way through it. I’ve looked at more data than you can shake a stick at. And I know it’s the right decision because the worst thing you can do is leave a problem in the workplace and everybody else knows it’s a problem. That’s when you lose credibility.”
Besides Marshall and Buss, there are a few other women in positions of leadership at several NBA teams. Gillian Zucker is president of business operations for the Clippers.
But they are few and far between. ADELANTE (Spanish for “onward”) is a women’s forum that began this month. Marshall was the second in a line of featured speakers in the program, which is designed to identify, educate, motivate and develop the next generation of female leaders in FIBA Americas.
The goal is to grow a pool of female leaders for the 43 national basketball federations, as well as FIBA. These future administrators will create a pipeline that FIBA or national federations can look to for qualified candidates from both genders.
The program is in its second week and is run virtually on each Monday. The first speaker on May 11 was Jenny Shipley, the first female Prime Minister of New Zealand. Following Marshall will be Maria Antonieta Collins of Univision and Telemundo, with Toni Collins of ESPN.
One of Marshall’s parting comments to the audience was a reminder that there are no shortcuts to building a strong idea or a strong organization.
And, often times, the most difficult times can yield some of the most meaningful results.
“That’s why I’m very proud of my boss (owner Mark Cuban) and our decision to embrace our employees and still pay them throughout this pandemic,” she said. “This is when you get to show people that you really do care about them and their lives and families. Whatever you can do to demonstrate that, this is the time to do it. This is when people need it, in a crisis.
“So loving the people – sometimes they won’t appreciate it. But you’re doing it for the right reasons. There’s somebody bigger watching.”
In closing she said one thing trumps all others.
“You’ve gotten where you are right now because of who you are,” Marshall said. “Yes, there might be things you can be coached on. But you don’t want people to fundamentally change your values and what you stand for. Don’t ever compromise.”
Twitter: @ESefko
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