Every mid September one of the treats in this business is attending the Gamechangers Summit, the annual gathering of the sports business community which triumphs the achievements of women leaders in sports business. While this event continues to evolve and grow, and it is a place where we see so many different faces, my hope is that sometime soon it ceases to exist, as the accomplishments of women and minorities are viewed as commonplace across every conference and speaking engagement and awards show, as opposed to one offs as this fourth annual event is. That being said, this event always has a different vibe and a different level of enthusiasm, and for better or worse, a different (but evolving) audience as some of the other events we attend throughout the year, and this year’s vibe was even better and more unique on the storytelling side than many events in recent memory. For those who missed it, watch the videos, you missed quite a treat.
Two of the subtle messages that seemed to arise time and again were really striking and very needed, and maybe get lost in the testosterone driven world of sports and business on the male side (although the messages were delivered by several men on the mentoring panel, including former Jets President Neil Glat and longtime NFL exec now with the Atlanta Falcons, Scott Pioli; empathy & the value of trying to balance work and life correctly. In a world where we are often climbing over each other for attention, and many are suffering in silence because of it, those qualities need to be amplified in any business.
Some key messages…
“Leadership starts with followship. You need to be powerful but humble & be willing to lead but also be led.” The NHL’s Kim Davis talking with now NLL Deputy Commissioner Jessica Berman…
“It’s ok for the mentee to ask questions & learn from each other. Help each other.” Susan Cohig at the NHL on her relationship with Katie Carew at GumGum, one of her mentees.
“You don’t sit on a board you, serve on a board. Get stuff done,.” the amazing Loretta Claiborne
“There are three things that bring people together: food, music and sports,” Claiborne on her lessons learned around The Special Olympics.
Some of the other takeaways…courtesy of Sports Business Daily…
Cathy Engelbert comes to the role of WNBA commissioner without a background as a sports executive — but not without a personal history rooted in sports. During the conference’s opening Q&A session, she talked about growing up with five brothers and a father who spent time playing in the NBA. Engelbert also cut her teeth as a college basketball player at Lehigh Univ. under coach Muffet McGraw (the Hall of Fame coach now at Notre Dame). Engelbert, who comes to the WNBA after running Big 4 accounting firm Deloitte, said of her experience: “As I came into the working world, I saw very disparate systems around women rising in the workforce. So it was really important to me to ultimately use the confidence I learned through sports to lead and bring the next generation behind me.”
Engelbert said she has three “pillars” of running the WNBA: grow revenue, expand the fan base and improve the player experience. She said, “The economics are so important here. In order to do things like player experience and fan experience and broaden the fan base, you’ve got to get the right economic model. And that’s one of the main reasons, with my business experience, I was hired.” One of Engelbert’s short term goals revolves around the CBA, which players opted out of earlier this year. “This is a moment where we can really transform the league,” she said of the CBA, which expires next month.
Her biggest advice for young women in sports business is to “raise your hand.” Before she left Deloitte, Engelbert found that nine men had asked to take over her role, compared to zero women. Engelbert: “Come out of that comfort zone and think bigger.”
Mavericks CEO Cynthia Marshall was a rockstar. We need more of her.
“You need 1/3 of the people in the room. 1 or 2 is a whisper. What we gave right now is a cannon.”
Upon being hired by Mavs Owner Mark Cuban, Marshall said her No. 1 priority was to execute a 100-day plan. “I literally wrote a plan on an airplane right after I accepted the job that was in four parts,” she said. “What it said was that by 2019, the Dallas Mavericks would be the global standard for diversity and inclusion.” The four areas Marshall focused on? “I started with a zero-tolerance policy for inappropriate behavior. Then I wanted to develop a Mavs women’s agenda; clearly there was no agenda to empower, educate, enhance women. Then I wanted to go into full-blown culture transformation. Diversity and inclusion. … Then operational effectiveness was another big piece. Just putting some basic things in place that — in my 36 years at AT&T — I knew was needed to run a business.”
Some of Marshall’s top lines of the morning:
On her approach with team personnel: “We’re trying to have a climate of character.”
On the former Mavs senior management team trying to fool her at one point: “I’m pretty smart. I’m not just cute. I’m smart and cute.”
On inclusion: “Every voice matters. Everybody belongs.”
On what she tells the women on her senior management team at meetings: “Don’t all sit together. Spread around so you can make the fellas nervous.”
On having diversity of thought within an organization: “Can you imagine 10 of me at the table? Give me a break.”
On removing people from an organization: “I have never in 37 years fired anybody. They dismissed themselves.”
Pioli moderated a panel at this year’s conference on mentors and mentees. Joining him on stage were GumGum Sports Sales Director Katie Carew with her mentor, NHL Exec VP/Club & Business Affairs Susan Cohig, as well as Hawks Senior VP/Community and Chief Diversity & Inclusion Officer Nzinga Shaw with her mentor, Neil Glat. The panel discussed how these relationships have shaped their careers and how different mentor/mentee relationships can work for different people.
Shaw and Glat are a pairing of opposites — her a black woman, him a white man. But she said, “When you are around someone that is completely opposite of yourself, you start to think about problems very differently than you naturally would. And so that pushes you out of your comfort zone.” Cohig said something that has stuck with her is that “when you’re advancing in your career and you’re having success, it’s really important to send the elevator down and bring others up with you.” Glat: “I’m happy to have plenty of relationships where I’m the mentee, plenty of relationships where I’m the mentor, so I don’t view it as a zero sum game.”
This was in addition to the fourth year of the Mentoring Challenge Monday night, bringing together women in sports business who are early in their careers with female execs from the ranks of some of the best and brightest in the industry.
CSM’s Dan Mannix has been one of the key movers in the industry behind the rallying for diversity in a male dominated and risk averse industry like sports…
“This is such a gratifying event not just to support but to watch in grow every year. There is going to be a day soon where it will really be second nature in our industry to have women and minorities as true equals in the playing field, and we as a company are proud to have helped move this along just a bit. When you look out into the crowd and see the engagement, it really is inspiring for everyone regardless of gender or ethnicity and we need more of this to keep growing no matter what industry we are in. It’s just the right thing to do.”
Good time, good will, great learnings. Such an inspiring 48 hours with the best yet to come.
