WEBVTT - Cynt Marshall: From the Bay Area Projects to CEO of the Dallas Mavericks 0:00:15.436 --> 0:00:23.116 Pushkin. Welcome back to Start from the Bottom, a show 0:00:23.116 --> 0:00:25.676 where we dig into the lives of people who navigated 0:00:25.756 --> 0:00:29.956 non traditional paths to success. Today, I'm sharing my conversation 0:00:30.076 --> 0:00:34.716 with the first black female CEO in NBA history, Cynthia 0:00:34.756 --> 0:00:37.916 sent Marshall. You'll get to hear just how this Bay 0:00:37.956 --> 0:00:40.796 Area force worked her way up from an abusive household 0:00:40.796 --> 0:00:44.196 in the projects, turn in a full ride to UC Berkeley, 0:00:44.516 --> 0:00:48.396 then beating cancer at the height of her career. Sint 0:00:48.396 --> 0:00:51.276 and I both went to Berkeley at different times. It's 0:00:51.316 --> 0:00:53.036 actually there where I first heard of her, when she 0:00:53.076 --> 0:00:56.276 came to speak to the black student. It was interesting 0:00:56.316 --> 0:00:58.996 to find out through a conversation that we had similar 0:00:59.036 --> 0:01:02.516 experiences at Berkeley. I'm forever grateful, of course, to the 0:01:02.516 --> 0:01:04.916 school for taking a chance on me, but both Sin 0:01:04.996 --> 0:01:07.036 and I had a tough time feeling like part of 0:01:07.036 --> 0:01:10.876 a larger community without many other kids being around on campus. 0:01:11.836 --> 0:01:13.876 We'll talk about that. Plus they're a sent at at 0:01:14.036 --> 0:01:17.196 and T and more. Let's get into it was sent 0:01:19.396 --> 0:01:22.676 You came in to a whole job that was a 0:01:22.716 --> 0:01:26.236 whole lot of work. Mark Cuban, owner of the MAVs, Yes, 0:01:26.756 --> 0:01:29.796 called you directly. You he needed you. Your whit persons 0:01:29.836 --> 0:01:31.156 have to come in here. And you know, I didn't 0:01:31.156 --> 0:01:36.796 know when he called me, You didn't know? Yah? Yeah, 0:01:37.996 --> 0:01:40.996 how are you approaching being the CEO of the of 0:01:41.316 --> 0:01:44.796 the Mavericks giving kind of what was happening before you 0:01:44.876 --> 0:01:47.956 got here? And there were no people of color and 0:01:48.036 --> 0:01:52.396 the executive correct We had ten white man sitting around 0:01:52.396 --> 0:01:54.516 the table in my first meeting, and then they brought 0:01:54.516 --> 0:01:56.476 in two women who were not a part of the 0:01:56.516 --> 0:02:00.956 permanent leadership team. So now our leadership team, executive leadership 0:02:00.956 --> 0:02:03.916 teams fifty percent women and fifty percent people of color. 0:02:04.836 --> 0:02:07.196 And when you go down through the tables, we have 0:02:07.236 --> 0:02:10.036 a diverse employee body. So I feel great about that, 0:02:10.596 --> 0:02:14.996 and so that's important to me. But equally as important 0:02:15.156 --> 0:02:17.836 is to have an inclusive culture. So not just have 0:02:17.996 --> 0:02:21.036 these people in their great jobs and doing great things, 0:02:21.076 --> 0:02:24.036 and you know, our employee body looks like the community 0:02:24.036 --> 0:02:26.196 that we serve and the fans that we serve, but 0:02:26.396 --> 0:02:32.636 that people are included, that we actually embrace people. So 0:02:32.756 --> 0:02:36.676 representation is important, but then also just the whole culture 0:02:36.796 --> 0:02:40.636 and the climate. That's what we focus on every day. 0:02:40.676 --> 0:02:43.556 And then of course we want to make money. Somebody 0:02:43.636 --> 0:02:46.396 told me when I first got here about the financials, 0:02:46.436 --> 0:02:48.436 and Mark Cuban is a billionaire and if he needs 0:02:48.476 --> 0:02:50.196 to write a check back to the company, he will. 0:02:50.556 --> 0:02:52.436 I'm like, well, that's not a good attitude to have 0:02:52.956 --> 0:02:55.276 because I come from a place thirty six years where 0:02:55.276 --> 0:02:57.996 it was about profit and loss and Mark Cuban and 0:02:57.996 --> 0:03:00.476 gets to keep his money that he has. We should 0:03:00.516 --> 0:03:03.356 be making money to give back to this organization. Why 0:03:03.436 --> 0:03:06.196 he called you. I mean, we should be making money, okay, 0:03:06.196 --> 0:03:09.236 Mark Cuban should not be funding this every year. And 0:03:09.276 --> 0:03:12.196 so we just had a very good, a very good year. 0:03:12.756 --> 0:03:15.476 COVID hit us hard, but we still made money. But 0:03:15.556 --> 0:03:18.916 we just had a very good record setting unprecedented year. 0:03:19.156 --> 0:03:22.836 So I feel good about that. I truly don't take 0:03:22.876 --> 0:03:25.196 the credit. I mean the Lord blessed me to be 0:03:25.316 --> 0:03:29.156 able to bring people together and we get it done. 0:03:29.196 --> 0:03:31.676 If I lost the people around that table, we would 0:03:31.716 --> 0:03:35.356 not be as successful as we are. If my boss 0:03:35.356 --> 0:03:37.676 didn't have the faith that he has in us, and 0:03:37.716 --> 0:03:40.756 if he didn't actually slow down long enough to teach 0:03:40.796 --> 0:03:42.876 me the business of basketball, which he promised he would do. 0:03:42.876 --> 0:03:45.156 He knew I didn't know a thing about basketball, okay, 0:03:45.276 --> 0:03:47.436 and he's done that. So we're we're all in this 0:03:47.516 --> 0:03:49.996 really together. We have our season ticket holders and our fans, 0:03:50.356 --> 0:03:53.756 and then our players who are absolutely phenomenal and they 0:03:53.796 --> 0:03:57.196 are men of character and they love that. You got 0:03:57.196 --> 0:04:00.396 a colbear running, you got running the team, come on, 0:04:00.556 --> 0:04:07.036 j And then of course our general manager Nico Harrison, 0:04:07.116 --> 0:04:09.876 so uh, and then Mike Finley, this is in general manager. 0:04:10.276 --> 0:04:13.476 We have a good team on and off the court, 0:04:13.836 --> 0:04:16.116 and so I'm blessed to be able to be the 0:04:16.156 --> 0:04:19.316 face of it a lot. But they're they're doing it. 0:04:19.356 --> 0:04:21.116 I mean I'm in there too. No, I work hard, 0:04:21.316 --> 0:04:23.676 but we all do. We all do, and so we're 0:04:23.716 --> 0:04:25.476 all going to leave it better than we found it. 0:04:25.716 --> 0:04:27.996 I'm so glad you came out here. I see glad 0:04:28.116 --> 0:04:30.036 that you agreed to do it. And then of course 0:04:30.116 --> 0:04:33.396 over here it's great to do. It's fun. And you know, 0:04:33.596 --> 0:04:37.916 I m we have a Berkeley connection. Yes, I went 0:04:37.956 --> 0:04:41.356 to Berkeley undergrad and eventually to grad school there. Awesome. 0:04:41.596 --> 0:04:43.516 When I was in college and I was at Berkeley, yeah, 0:04:43.516 --> 0:04:45.036 I kind of thought that was it, Like I made 0:04:45.076 --> 0:04:47.476 it like it's over right. Well, I didn't like, this 0:04:47.556 --> 0:04:49.836 is like a whole journey ahead. And I didn't really 0:04:49.836 --> 0:04:52.196 know how to navigate that. It's the beginning of that journey. 0:04:52.196 --> 0:04:54.756 It's the beginning of the journey. You step on that 0:04:54.916 --> 0:04:57.276 campus and you see say their gade and the big 0:04:57.356 --> 0:04:59.156 camp and nearly and you're like, Okay, this is big 0:04:59.196 --> 0:05:01.596 stuff here. I made it. Yeah, and everyone's telling you 0:05:01.596 --> 0:05:04.556 you made it. You know that. I congratulations you did. 0:05:04.596 --> 0:05:07.156 And you're at Berkeley. Don't want probably institution in the world. 0:05:07.196 --> 0:05:09.796 All that, right, And it's just the beginn of the journey. 0:05:09.836 --> 0:05:12.476 We'll talk about how you got to Berkeley. What was 0:05:12.476 --> 0:05:14.836 it like growing up in Richmond, California. Oh, I love 0:05:14.956 --> 0:05:18.676 nine four eight oh four. Okay, So my parents left Birmingham, Alabama, 0:05:18.876 --> 0:05:21.916 So you know your civil rights history. So the church 0:05:22.036 --> 0:05:25.636 that was bombed in Birmingham in nineteen sixty three, the 0:05:25.676 --> 0:05:28.036 sixteenth Street Baptist Church, Okay, that was one of my 0:05:28.076 --> 0:05:30.836 mother's churches, okay, right there in her neighborhood. Okay, And 0:05:30.876 --> 0:05:34.476 that always sticks out to me because four girls lost 0:05:34.476 --> 0:05:37.356 their lives that day. My mother has four girls and 0:05:37.436 --> 0:05:40.556 two boys. Okay, So I think about those girls every day, 0:05:40.756 --> 0:05:43.756 just think about them and the sacrifice that they had 0:05:43.796 --> 0:05:46.636 to make. Or my parents left there. Oh absolutely could 0:05:46.676 --> 0:05:48.556 have been. I mean absolutely could have been. So, but 0:05:48.676 --> 0:05:51.596 my parents left there because they wanted us to They 0:05:51.596 --> 0:05:53.116 didn't want us to grow up in the gym crow 0:05:53.276 --> 0:05:57.636 segregated South. So moved to the Bay Area, Richmond, California. 0:05:57.836 --> 0:06:00.756 My dad had a sister and a brother in law there, 0:06:01.316 --> 0:06:05.556 and so we landed in the projects. Okay, And I 0:06:05.676 --> 0:06:07.916 described it as a good childhood even though there was 0:06:07.956 --> 0:06:10.316 a lot of stuff that happened. Okay, because a lot 0:06:10.356 --> 0:06:13.156 of things happened to all of us. It's just how 0:06:13.436 --> 0:06:17.996 you grow up. But we were the victims of domestic violence. 0:06:18.396 --> 0:06:21.476 I mean I saw a lot. I saw my mom 0:06:21.916 --> 0:06:24.476 being abused. My father broke my nose when I was 0:06:24.516 --> 0:06:27.036 sixteen years old. I just I just saw a lot 0:06:27.076 --> 0:06:29.636 of stuff happen. Actually, fifteen, how do you how are 0:06:29.676 --> 0:06:32.156 you prossing this as a at the time that it's happening. 0:06:33.156 --> 0:06:35.596 My mother was a woman of faith, and so we 0:06:35.796 --> 0:06:38.396 just always felt like the Lord would take care of us. 0:06:38.436 --> 0:06:40.996 I mean, for example, the summer my father left us 0:06:41.196 --> 0:06:44.396 and it was a bloody, ugly summer where we had 0:06:44.436 --> 0:06:46.836 to flee our house that summer, but my mother's prayer 0:06:46.876 --> 0:06:48.956 was that we would make it back home before school started. 0:06:49.196 --> 0:06:51.596 And we made it back home. There was one match 0:06:51.716 --> 0:06:53.316 was in the house for me and my younger sister 0:06:53.356 --> 0:06:55.596 to sleep on. My father had taken everything and eventually, 0:06:55.676 --> 0:06:57.836 you know, he started to bring, you know, send it back. 0:06:58.356 --> 0:07:00.476 But my mother told us that day because we were 0:07:00.476 --> 0:07:03.476 going crazy. I ran track. Our trophies were gone. I mean, 0:07:03.596 --> 0:07:05.836 it's amazing the things you care about at that age. Yeah. 0:07:05.996 --> 0:07:08.036 I were in my drunk. Yeah okay, and then you know, 0:07:08.036 --> 0:07:10.396 school is getting raised. We don't have any clothes, and 0:07:10.476 --> 0:07:14.036 I'll never forget what my mother said. She said, everybody'd 0:07:14.076 --> 0:07:17.036 be quiet, and it was just dead silence. She said, 0:07:17.076 --> 0:07:20.436 all I want is peace of mind. The Lord will provide, 0:07:21.436 --> 0:07:25.276 and he did. Literally, people start bringing us stuff. The 0:07:25.356 --> 0:07:27.796 firm to start to show up again. I went to school, 0:07:27.836 --> 0:07:29.596 but I went to school with embrace on my nose 0:07:29.676 --> 0:07:31.716 from where my father had broken my nose that summer. 0:07:31.876 --> 0:07:33.596 But my mother told me to go to school, just 0:07:34.116 --> 0:07:38.396 keep going. And three teachers and a principle. I'll never 0:07:38.716 --> 0:07:41.516 forget this. Three teachers and a principle embrace me. I 0:07:41.636 --> 0:07:43.316 want to know what was going on. I mean, at 0:07:43.316 --> 0:07:45.556 this point, I'm a junior. So they know me, talk 0:07:45.636 --> 0:07:47.996 to my mom, and they just got me involved in 0:07:48.036 --> 0:07:51.596 all kind of activities and the rest is history. Miss Irvin, 0:07:51.716 --> 0:07:55.956 mister o'telly, mister Chapman, and mister Parris just decided, Okay, 0:07:55.956 --> 0:07:57.876 this girl is going to college. We know her mom, 0:07:57.916 --> 0:08:00.236 we know the desires of her mom, and we're going 0:08:00.276 --> 0:08:02.756 to embrace her. And my zipkoe didn't matter. I got 0:08:02.796 --> 0:08:05.036 a great public education. They embraced me, and I ended 0:08:05.076 --> 0:08:07.916 up with five full scholarships to the college of my choice. 0:08:08.156 --> 0:08:12.276 So of course, get into school your choice, full ride, 0:08:12.316 --> 0:08:16.436 no problem. I mean, Berkeley is an interesting place. It 0:08:16.636 --> 0:08:19.916 is because you know everyone. I think everyone thinks it's 0:08:19.956 --> 0:08:25.396 like a bastion of racial and the harmony, and but 0:08:25.476 --> 0:08:29.236 the truth of it is, and I went there thirty 0:08:29.316 --> 0:08:33.516 forty years after you. It's not it's not. It's not, 0:08:33.756 --> 0:08:36.676 it's not. I mean people think that it's the San 0:08:36.716 --> 0:08:40.916 Francisco Bay area. It's very diverse, is very liberal, I 0:08:40.956 --> 0:08:43.356 mean all of that. And when I went to Berkeley, 0:08:43.916 --> 0:08:47.236 Black's made up one percent of the school. There were 0:08:47.316 --> 0:08:50.116 three hundred of us, and I think they're by thirty 0:08:50.116 --> 0:08:52.316 thousand students. I mean, we made one one percent of 0:08:52.396 --> 0:08:56.156 the school. I was the only African American in my sorority, 0:08:56.436 --> 0:08:59.756 one of the first black cheerleaders. It just was not 0:09:00.076 --> 0:09:02.916 It wasn't diverse, and it's still is not as diverse 0:09:02.996 --> 0:09:06.676 as it should be as it relates to blacks. Yeah, yeah, 0:09:06.916 --> 0:09:10.236 how did you handle that? I just did what I 0:09:10.276 --> 0:09:12.036 normally did. I mean, like when I went out for 0:09:12.156 --> 0:09:14.516 to be a cheerleader. I was a cheerleader in high school. 0:09:14.796 --> 0:09:17.436 My high school was about I mean, you saw as 0:09:17.476 --> 0:09:21.116 many Asians, as many white, as many black, some Hispanics 0:09:21.116 --> 0:09:23.676 in my high school, right, so very mixed. And then 0:09:23.676 --> 0:09:26.676 when I got to Berkeley was very different. But I 0:09:26.716 --> 0:09:28.956 didn't change so the things I wanted to do. If 0:09:28.956 --> 0:09:30.916 I saw an activity I wanted to participate in a 0:09:30.996 --> 0:09:32.676 class I wanted to take, I mean, I just did 0:09:32.716 --> 0:09:36.036 what I normally would do. I didn't get scared because 0:09:36.076 --> 0:09:38.236 of the fact that there weren't a whole lot of 0:09:38.236 --> 0:09:40.316 people looked like me. There weren't a lot of professors 0:09:40.356 --> 0:09:42.396 that looked like me, and so I didn't realize I 0:09:42.436 --> 0:09:44.436 was one of the first black cheerleaders until somebody said 0:09:44.476 --> 0:09:46.716 that to me. Until people are coming up and putting 0:09:46.716 --> 0:09:49.076 their hands in my afro and so we're so glad 0:09:49.116 --> 0:09:50.916 to have you as a cheerleader, and we're so glad 0:09:50.956 --> 0:09:52.636 to have you out there. It looks good to see 0:09:52.636 --> 0:09:58.476 you there. We need more black kids out there. And I, okay, 0:09:59.836 --> 0:10:01.476 did you have a sense of what you wanted to 0:10:01.516 --> 0:10:04.076 do while you were there? Like, did you have an aim? Say, 0:10:04.076 --> 0:10:06.196 I want to get out of here and do this? Okay. 0:10:06.236 --> 0:10:10.196 So I came in as an engineering major, and by 0:10:10.236 --> 0:10:12.956 the end of that year, I didn't like it. Getting 0:10:12.996 --> 0:10:14.836 good grades, but I didn't like it. I took one 0:10:14.876 --> 0:10:17.516 business class and said, I think I want to change 0:10:17.516 --> 0:10:21.556 my major. And I took one organizational behavior class, and 0:10:21.556 --> 0:10:24.076 I sum, I'm gonna do that. I'm gonna work for 0:10:24.156 --> 0:10:27.516 a big company and lead people and all that. And 0:10:27.556 --> 0:10:30.756 so I knew from that first class I want to 0:10:30.796 --> 0:10:33.596 go work in a corporation and I wanted to lead 0:10:33.716 --> 0:10:36.836 large groups of people. And so I remember when I 0:10:36.876 --> 0:10:39.556 was recruited and I had thirteen job offers, and I said, 0:10:39.556 --> 0:10:41.396 I'm going to take the one that pays me the 0:10:41.476 --> 0:10:44.076 most money because I want to help my family, you know, 0:10:44.076 --> 0:10:46.036 get out of Easter Hill. And then I'm going to 0:10:46.116 --> 0:10:48.396 take the one that lets me be the boss. At 0:10:48.436 --> 0:10:51.116 twenty one years old. At twenty one years old, I'm 0:10:51.116 --> 0:10:53.796 going to come in and lead people because I want 0:10:53.836 --> 0:10:56.796 to serve people. So what positions were you applying for them? Oh? 0:10:56.876 --> 0:11:00.396 So I had Wells Fargo, so kind of an assistant 0:11:00.436 --> 0:11:04.116 manager at a bank, Chevron, I mean, just your typical 0:11:04.676 --> 0:11:08.076 kind of I mean across industry though, so the energy, 0:11:08.156 --> 0:11:13.836 the oil and gas industry, energy companies, banks, retail companies, 0:11:13.916 --> 0:11:16.636 and then AT and T was there, so just a variety, 0:11:16.716 --> 0:11:18.356 and I was just looking at who was going to 0:11:18.436 --> 0:11:20.596 pay me the most money. I mean, but I want 0:11:20.636 --> 0:11:22.636 to supervise people. So that was my criteria. Is it 0:11:22.676 --> 0:11:24.956 typical straight out of college to apply for like a job? 0:11:24.956 --> 0:11:27.876 It's like a system, like a management job. Is that 0:11:28.276 --> 0:11:30.756 I guess it was for me because I mean they 0:11:30.756 --> 0:11:34.076 had those jobs available, and what AT and T had 0:11:34.716 --> 0:11:38.036 Pacific Belt they had a fast track management program. So 0:11:38.076 --> 0:11:41.716 they'd bring you in in a supervisory job and just 0:11:41.836 --> 0:11:43.956 help you kind of advance and the goal was to 0:11:43.996 --> 0:11:46.556 get you to director by five years. I mean, so 0:11:46.596 --> 0:11:49.596 they wanted people who had proven kind of leadership experience, 0:11:49.916 --> 0:11:52.116 you know, leading clubs whatever however you did that at 0:11:52.156 --> 0:11:55.476 that age, and then they would help you grow as 0:11:55.476 --> 0:11:58.476 a leader. So I came in on our fast track program. 0:11:58.556 --> 0:12:02.356 Hardly any blacks in that program, and it was quite 0:12:02.396 --> 0:12:07.876 an experience. It was quite an experience. What did you learn? Okay? 0:12:07.916 --> 0:12:12.516 So what I learned is that there's some people who 0:12:12.556 --> 0:12:15.636 are truly invested in you. They want you to do well. 0:12:16.116 --> 0:12:19.076 Had I had my second boss, Norm McBride, he's in 0:12:19.116 --> 0:12:21.916 the Bay Area. I remember one time when he says, Cindy. 0:12:22.356 --> 0:12:24.316 He'd called me Cindy back then, because I also learned, 0:12:24.316 --> 0:12:26.396 if people call you what they want to call you, okay, 0:12:28.396 --> 0:12:30.796 even though I would say I am Sent Okay, my 0:12:30.876 --> 0:12:33.476 name is Cynthia, but I go by Sent. Well, people 0:12:33.556 --> 0:12:35.996 never heard of Sent. But he'd called me Cindy because 0:12:35.996 --> 0:12:39.636 he just couldn't get with the scent thing. And he said, Cindy, 0:12:40.236 --> 0:12:41.796 what are you gonna do in this company? So it's 0:12:41.836 --> 0:12:43.436 my second job, right, he goes, what are you gonna 0:12:43.436 --> 0:12:46.476 do in this company? And ironically my job was a 0:12:46.516 --> 0:12:50.036 network engineer okay, because they wanted to promote me into 0:12:50.116 --> 0:12:53.116 my boss's job in operator services. By that point, I 0:12:53.156 --> 0:12:56.596 had gotten like all this input, even from my own operators. 0:12:56.916 --> 0:13:00.116 Since Sent this company is big, it's a technical company. 0:13:00.196 --> 0:13:02.556 Go and learn this company, because you want to know 0:13:02.716 --> 0:13:05.716 this company as you start to go up. So I 0:13:05.916 --> 0:13:09.076 turned down that promotion to be my boss. I turned 0:13:09.116 --> 0:13:11.596 on that job and took a lateral to go to 0:13:11.636 --> 0:13:15.356 the network engineering department. At that time, it was telecommunications, right. 0:13:15.436 --> 0:13:17.636 The industry has changed a lot, but at that time, 0:13:18.036 --> 0:13:20.236 I did need to know our network. I needed to 0:13:20.236 --> 0:13:22.316 know how these phone calls were being made. I needed 0:13:22.316 --> 0:13:25.996 to understand the network underneath and behind it all. And 0:13:26.036 --> 0:13:28.636 so I took a lateral to the network engineering department, 0:13:28.676 --> 0:13:30.516 which was so funny to me because I spent all 0:13:30.556 --> 0:13:32.236 this time kicking and scream and I didn't want to 0:13:32.276 --> 0:13:35.676 be an engineer, right. And so my boss, the engineering manager, 0:13:35.716 --> 0:13:37.676 came up to me and he goes sending, what are 0:13:37.716 --> 0:13:39.276 you gonna do in this company? What's your next job? 0:13:39.276 --> 0:13:40.836 What's your vision? What's your vision? What do you want 0:13:40.836 --> 0:13:45.396 to do? I said something to him that was so stupid. Okay, 0:13:45.436 --> 0:13:47.596 but I'm twenty three years old, I said it, so 0:13:47.596 --> 0:13:49.876 I can a minute now, okay. I looked at him 0:13:49.876 --> 0:13:51.636 and I said, mister McBride, I had my head down 0:13:51.716 --> 0:13:54.636 with all my demand and capacity charts. I'm trying to 0:13:54.636 --> 0:13:56.916 figure out how the network to call flow and make 0:13:56.956 --> 0:13:59.916 sure that we got enough capacity and all that. And 0:13:59.956 --> 0:14:02.836 so I put my head up and I said, mister McBride, 0:14:04.596 --> 0:14:06.876 my job was to do my current job and to 0:14:06.956 --> 0:14:08.956 deliver it, and I'm going to do it well, I said, 0:14:09.196 --> 0:14:12.076 your job is to figure out my next job. So 0:14:12.116 --> 0:14:14.756 I'm gonna leave it to you. How stupid is that? Like? 0:14:14.876 --> 0:14:19.836 Is that? How stupid is that? Right? And so I 0:14:19.876 --> 0:14:22.316 really thought that all right, I didn't know any bed idea. 0:14:22.356 --> 0:14:24.036 I didn't know anybody three years ago. I didn't know 0:14:24.036 --> 0:14:26.076 any better, right, And so he just looked at me. 0:14:26.156 --> 0:14:28.876 Thank god he did, though, this white man, okay, totally 0:14:28.876 --> 0:14:33.636 invested in me. And he said, oh, Cindy, mmm, come 0:14:33.676 --> 0:14:35.676 on back here with me. And so he took me 0:14:35.716 --> 0:14:38.236 back to his big engineering manager office and he had 0:14:38.276 --> 0:14:40.516 all these white boards and easel sheets and all that. 0:14:40.956 --> 0:14:44.636 And that man spent two hours showing me the different 0:14:44.676 --> 0:14:48.156 departments of the company, what they do, how it all 0:14:48.276 --> 0:14:52.276 hangs together. He looked at my skill set what he 0:14:52.316 --> 0:14:54.116 thought would be a good path for me. I mean, 0:14:54.156 --> 0:14:58.316 he spent two hours. Wow, Like, who does that? And 0:14:58.356 --> 0:15:01.436 he says, okay, so Cindy, let's start thinking about the 0:15:01.476 --> 0:15:03.236 next kind of job you need to have. You need 0:15:03.316 --> 0:15:06.636 something where you could see the big picture. He laid out, 0:15:06.676 --> 0:15:08.996 like my next three jobs, based on what he knew 0:15:09.156 --> 0:15:12.036 about me. He says, so this is how this works, 0:15:12.036 --> 0:15:13.756 and you gotta have somebody to help you do this. 0:15:14.036 --> 0:15:16.756 But then it's your decision. And so as I was 0:15:16.836 --> 0:15:20.356 leaving his office, he said, sind Y, don't ever put 0:15:20.396 --> 0:15:24.076 your career in somebody else's hands. He says, you have 0:15:24.196 --> 0:15:26.476 to own it. There will be people who will invest 0:15:26.516 --> 0:15:28.476 in you, and then there will be some people who 0:15:28.516 --> 0:15:30.836 are not invest in you. You know, you have to 0:15:30.836 --> 0:15:34.116 watch out for those people as well, but you have 0:15:34.196 --> 0:15:36.276 to own it. And I walked out of his office 0:15:36.436 --> 0:15:38.996 with a plan. A couple of days later, he came 0:15:39.036 --> 0:15:41.716 by and he goes, Cindy, where are you going girl? 0:15:41.716 --> 0:15:43.156 Where are you going in this company? What you're gonna 0:15:43.156 --> 0:15:45.356 do with your career? And I said, mister McBride, what 0:15:45.396 --> 0:15:46.436 I want to do. I want to have a job 0:15:46.476 --> 0:15:47.796 with the big picture of the company. I would, and 0:15:47.796 --> 0:15:49.636 so I just like real out. He goes, we got 0:15:49.676 --> 0:15:55.236 it good. I love Norm McBride. I gotta find him. 0:15:55.276 --> 0:15:57.236 I gotta gotta be in his nineties or something now, 0:15:57.236 --> 0:15:59.756 I gotta find him. Is that beautiful? So lucky that 0:15:59.796 --> 0:16:03.316 you said what you said and not somebody, I mean, 0:16:03.356 --> 0:16:05.796 because he really did. I thought that. Yeah, I thought, 0:16:05.876 --> 0:16:09.076 I'm going to work hard because results matter. Results matter. 0:16:09.556 --> 0:16:14.516 You have to deliver the goods, right, Okay, But that's 0:16:14.556 --> 0:16:17.316 not all that matters. Because you can deliver the results 0:16:17.316 --> 0:16:19.716 and all that, But if nobody's invested in you, and 0:16:19.796 --> 0:16:22.876 if you don't know how to navigate the terrain, if 0:16:23.276 --> 0:16:25.796 you're just sitting there because you know you're a black 0:16:25.836 --> 0:16:28.476 person or you're a black woman, but nobody is truly 0:16:28.476 --> 0:16:31.436 telling you the culture and including you and helping you 0:16:31.516 --> 0:16:34.076 understand what the rules are and all that, you're just 0:16:34.196 --> 0:16:37.716 there and before you know it, twenty years pasted or 0:16:37.756 --> 0:16:40.716 five years passing year, unhappy and you leave. I have 0:16:41.356 --> 0:16:44.276 done that exercise that I tell you Norm McBride did 0:16:44.316 --> 0:16:46.236 for me. I've done that with a lot of people. 0:16:46.876 --> 0:16:50.276 I've done it with a lot of people. What else 0:16:50.356 --> 0:16:53.036 did you learn at and t oh Man? I learned 0:16:53.076 --> 0:16:58.156 a lot of thirty six years years thirty six years okay. 0:16:58.196 --> 0:17:00.996 I learned how to be an effective leader and a 0:17:01.076 --> 0:17:03.756 servant leader, which is what I am. I serve people 0:17:04.076 --> 0:17:06.356 and my three l's is if I want to be 0:17:06.516 --> 0:17:09.036 really effective, I need to do three things. I need 0:17:09.156 --> 0:17:13.316 to listen to the people, learn from the people, and 0:17:13.436 --> 0:17:17.796 love the people truly listen, not just hear them, but 0:17:17.956 --> 0:17:20.716 listen to what they're saying and what they're not saying, 0:17:21.076 --> 0:17:22.756 which is what I did when I came here to 0:17:22.796 --> 0:17:25.636 the MAVs, one on ones with every single employee, just 0:17:25.676 --> 0:17:27.796 listening to them and trying to understand who are these 0:17:27.796 --> 0:17:29.596 people that I need to serve a lot of people 0:17:29.676 --> 0:17:31.756 might say, well, Okay, you're gonna you know, you get 0:17:31.756 --> 0:17:33.356 in a position where you need to go and you 0:17:33.436 --> 0:17:35.316 kind of need to like triage, like what's going on 0:17:35.396 --> 0:17:37.156 here and figure things out. And Okay, but if I 0:17:37.196 --> 0:17:40.236 go start talking to everybody, everyone's gonna have different grievances. 0:17:40.236 --> 0:17:43.156 Everyone's gonna want different things. You want all that. You 0:17:43.196 --> 0:17:45.036 want all that because it's a recipe. I mean, you're 0:17:45.036 --> 0:17:46.796 you're trying, you're trying to bake a cake. You don't 0:17:46.836 --> 0:17:51.956 just bake it with the eggs. Okay, you gotta have 0:17:52.436 --> 0:17:55.276 all of it. I mean, And like I make sweetpotator bies, Okay, 0:17:55.276 --> 0:17:58.196 so I need my sweet potatoes. I need I mean, 0:17:57.996 --> 0:18:00.716 I want to sign that. By the way, they're famous. Okay, 0:18:00.756 --> 0:18:02.956 they're famous, But I don't just say Okay, well I 0:18:03.036 --> 0:18:07.396 got to sweet potatoes, so now I can make my bies, right. No, 0:18:07.476 --> 0:18:09.036 I gotta have the butter. I gotta have the eggs. 0:18:09.116 --> 0:18:10.876 I gotta have this sugar. I gotta have the nutmeg. 0:18:10.916 --> 0:18:13.156 I gotta have the cinnamon, and yeah, and yeah, and 0:18:13.196 --> 0:18:16.716 the nutmeg and cinnamon. That's only like two tablespoons, but 0:18:16.796 --> 0:18:19.356 that's what you really taste. Okay, if it's missing, you 0:18:19.396 --> 0:18:22.276 know it's missing. So everybody brings something different, so you 0:18:22.316 --> 0:18:24.036 got to hear all of that. I have two hundred 0:18:24.036 --> 0:18:26.316 people here. We have to know these people. We got 0:18:26.396 --> 0:18:28.676 to understand. Like I asked the people when I got here, 0:18:28.716 --> 0:18:32.236 I said, okay, I would start out by saying, how 0:18:32.276 --> 0:18:33.916 long have you been? Give me your whole give your 0:18:33.916 --> 0:18:37.996 whole life story, And undoubtedly they would say something like, well, 0:18:37.996 --> 0:18:41.636 this is my seventh season at the Maps, And I said, 0:18:41.636 --> 0:18:43.796 were you born here? Like? Were you born here in 0:18:43.836 --> 0:18:46.036 this building? Were you born on the court at the Maps? 0:18:46.516 --> 0:18:48.796 I want the whole life story. So then I make 0:18:48.836 --> 0:18:51.956 them go all the way back because I want to 0:18:51.996 --> 0:18:55.116 know the story, just like I started with you about 0:18:56.076 --> 0:18:58.716 being born in Birmingham. And here's what I learned in 0:18:58.716 --> 0:19:04.596 that process. So many people in this organization, they literally 0:19:04.716 --> 0:19:08.916 chose to have a career in sports, Like very few 0:19:09.276 --> 0:19:11.356 somebody like call them or they showed up to help 0:19:11.396 --> 0:19:13.876 with a crisis or whatever. They chose a long time 0:19:13.916 --> 0:19:16.476 ago to have a career in sports. I was so 0:19:16.636 --> 0:19:19.276 emotional by the time I interviewed all these people. I 0:19:19.316 --> 0:19:21.236 mean like, I was crying, and I called in the 0:19:21.316 --> 0:19:24.516 two women who had come here with me and I said, Okay, so, 0:19:24.796 --> 0:19:27.556 just like we chose to have a career in communications, 0:19:28.436 --> 0:19:30.796 these people chose to have a career in sports. Like 0:19:30.836 --> 0:19:33.516 some of these people were sports management majors in college. 0:19:33.556 --> 0:19:36.596 I've never even heard of that. Okay, They've invested in 0:19:36.756 --> 0:19:38.956 their lives getting ready for this. This is their life. 0:19:39.036 --> 0:19:42.716 That's why authenticity is one of our values that's important 0:19:42.756 --> 0:19:44.916 to us. And so I often say the people, and 0:19:44.956 --> 0:19:47.156 I've said this for years, the people who get up 0:19:47.156 --> 0:19:49.876 out of bed in the morning, the issues they have, 0:19:50.076 --> 0:19:53.436 the baggage they have, the backgrounds they have, the cultural 0:19:53.476 --> 0:19:56.396 attributes they have, all of that. Those are the people 0:19:57.036 --> 0:19:59.276 we should want to walk into our doors every day 0:19:59.356 --> 0:20:03.196