[{"_1":2,"_3":-5,"_4":-5},"loaderData",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"actionData","errors","root",{"_137":-5,"_138":-5,"_139":140,"_141":142,"_143":144},"routes/clips.$id.$slug",{"_9":10,"_11":12},"clip",{"_13":14,"_15":16,"_17":-5,"_18":19,"_20":-5,"_21":22,"_23":24,"_25":26,"_27":28,"_29":30,"_31":32,"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_44":45,"_46":-5,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":-5},"canonicalUrl","https://howleaderslead.com/clips/2232/when-the-pressures-on-focus-on-delivering-for-your-team","id",2232,"title","When the pressure’s on, focus on delivering for your team","subtitle","transcript","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:02.920\nthinking about that. I mean, there was enough pressure. You know, I didn't need\n\n2\n00:00:02.920 --> 00:00:03.520\nto add to it\n\n3\n00:00:03.520 --> 00:00:08.420\nthat, hey, I'm a woman here. I mean, there was enough pressure because the NBA\n\n4\n00:00:08.420 --> 00:00:10.080\nhad made the WNBA\n\n5\n00:00:10.080 --> 00:00:16.560\na priority. It could not fail with everything that David Stern and Russ Granik,\n\n6\n00:00:16.560 --> 00:00:17.600\nour Deputy Commissioner\n\n7\n00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:22.610\nRick, I talked to and others and the owners, the NBA owners at that time, were\n\n8\n00:00:22.610 --> 00:00:23.520\nthey gave David\n\n9\n00:00:23.520 --> 00:00:28.550\nto Green Light to do this. So it had to be great. You know, the stakes were\n\n10\n00:00:28.550 --> 00:00:30.800\nhigh. That was the pressure.\n\n11\n00:00:30.800 --> 00:00:34.810\nIt was okay. How do I not flood this? How do I do my part? Because again, it\n\n12\n00:00:34.810 --> 00:00:35.600\nwas a group effort\n\n13\n00:00:35.600 --> 00:00:41.040\nof the highest order. How do I not let my teammates down? You know, how do I\n\n14\n00:00:41.040 --> 00:00:42.240\nrepresent the league\n\n15\n00:00:42.240 --> 00:00:45.240\nin the best possible manner? Because I was out there. They put me out there. I\n\n16\n00:00:45.240 --> 00:00:45.840\nwas the one doing\n\n17\n00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:51.410\nspeaking engagements and doing media interviews. And I just took very seriously\n\n18\n00:00:51.410 --> 00:00:53.280\nthis trust that had\n\n19\n00:00:53.280 --> 00:00:57.920\nbeen given to me and this sacred trust that I've been handed. And so I think\n\n20\n00:00:57.920 --> 00:00:58.800\nthat was really what\n\n21\n00:00:58.800 --> 00:01:01.920\nI was most on my mind in the first couple of years. And\n","pretty_transcript","start_time",1767159,"end_time",1827609,"keywords","Pressure, stakes, teamwork, teammates, respect, trust","slug","when-the-pressures-on-focus-on-delivering-for-your-team","origin","cms","mux_playback_id","OdjflE1cpMx00s77n75U4NRPcmmoOY02GZGdfj01uH9SY00","mux_asset_id","EP9EZiHPz7o95romM5GUQGPvVn6oBrU4ZvzfkpGbepA","leader_id",178,"episode_id",328,"updated_at","2025-02-26T19:50:39.000000Z","meta_title","meta_description","og_image_media_id","web_url","https://www.howleaderslead.com/clips/2232/when-the-pressures-on-focus-on-delivering-for-your-team","og_image_url","leader",{"_13":36,"_101":102,"_103":104,"_105":106,"_25":107,"_108":109,"_62":110,"_59":110,"_111":112,"_69":113,"_39":114,"_115":-5,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_116":117,"_89":118,"_44":119,"_120":121,"_122":123,"_46":-5,"_124":125,"_126":127,"_93":128,"_51":-5},"episode",{"_13":38,"_15":52,"_27":53,"_17":54,"_55":56,"_18":57,"_20":58,"_59":60,"_61":-5,"_62":60,"_63":-5,"_64":65,"_66":67,"_68":-5,"_69":-5,"_70":71,"_72":73,"_74":-5,"_35":36,"_39":75,"_41":-5,"_42":-5,"_43":-5,"_76":77,"_78":79,"_80":81,"_82":83,"_84":-5,"_85":-5,"_86":87,"_88":-5,"_89":-5,"_46":-5,"_90":91,"_92":-5,"_93":-5,"_51":-5},"og_image_media","Respect your team","respect-your-team","Learn how to cultivate more cooperation on your team. See what it takes to get stuff done in a high-bureaucracy environment. Plus, inspiring advice for women in leadership—or anyone who wants to inspire the next generation.","summary","

If you want to accomplish something big, you won’t get very far without a team.

And Val Ackerman knows a LOT about the power of teamwork.

She’s the Commissioner of the Big East Conference and one of the executives behind the iconic “Dream Team” at the ‘96 Olympics. She was also the first-ever President of the WNBA.

And as the new WNBA season tips off May 14th, it’s the perfect opportunity to sit down with Val and get some great insights on how to foster teamwork.

You’ll also learn:

Tips for leading in high-bureaucracy circumstances
How to react when someone moves on to a new job
The mindset you need when the pressure’s high
Must-hear advice for women leaders

","WEBVTT\n\n1\n00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:07.810\nWelcome to How Leaders Lead, where every week you get to listen in while I\n\n2\n00:00:07.810 --> 00:00:08.600\ninterview some\n\n3\n00:00:08.600 --> 00:00:10.560\nof the very best leaders in the world.\n\n4\n00:00:10.560 --> 00:00:14.100\nI break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have\n\n5\n00:00:14.100 --> 00:00:14.760\nsomething\n\n6\n00:00:14.760 --> 00:00:18.600\nsimple you can apply as you develop into a better leader.\n\n7\n00:00:18.600 --> 00:00:20.960\nThat's what this podcast is all about.\n\n8\n00:00:20.960 --> 00:00:26.380\nBelieve me, if you want to accomplish something big, you won't get very far\n\n9\n00:00:26.380 --> 00:00:27.560\nwithout a team.\n\n10\n00:00:27.560 --> 00:00:31.600\nMy guest today knows a lot about the power of teamwork.\n\n11\n00:00:31.600 --> 00:00:35.430\nVal Ackerman is the commissioner of the Big East Conference and one of the\n\n12\n00:00:35.430 --> 00:00:36.600\nexecutives behind\n\n13\n00:00:36.600 --> 00:00:40.320\nthe iconic dream team at the 96 Olympics.\n\n14\n00:00:40.320 --> 00:00:44.520\nShe was also the first ever president of the WNBA.\n\n15\n00:00:44.520 --> 00:00:50.580\nAnd as the new WNBA season tips off May 14, it's the perfect opportunity to sit\n\n16\n00:00:50.580 --> 00:00:51.080\ndown\n\n17\n00:00:51.080 --> 00:00:56.320\nwith Val and get some real insights on how to foster teamwork.\n\n18\n00:00:56.320 --> 00:01:00.950\nBecause here's the thing, it's not enough to build a good team and hope for the\n\n19\n00:01:00.950 --> 00:01:01.560\nbest.\n\n20\n00:01:01.560 --> 00:01:07.000\nTo get real cooperation, you've got to support and respect your team.\n\n21\n00:01:07.000 --> 00:01:09.800\nVal does this in a really special way.\n\n22\n00:01:09.800 --> 00:01:13.360\nIn this conversation, it's going to have your head buzzing with ideas to show\n\n23\n00:01:13.360 --> 00:01:13.680\nup for\n\n24\n00:01:13.680 --> 00:01:18.120\nyour team so you all can win big together.\n\n25\n00:01:18.120 --> 00:01:22.560\nHere's my conversation with my good friend and soon to be yours, Val Ackerman.\n\n26\n00:01:22.560 --> 00:01:32.970\nVal, I want to get into your business career, but I understand that you taught\n\n27\n00:01:32.970 --> 00:01:34.680\nleadership\n\n28\n00:01:34.680 --> 00:01:39.000\nand personnel management at Columbia University at one time.\n\n29\n00:01:39.000 --> 00:01:41.800\nHow would you sum up your leadership philosophy?\n\n30\n00:01:41.800 --> 00:01:45.080\nI have my five D's of leadership and I'll share them with you.\n\n31\n00:01:45.080 --> 00:01:47.600\nThe five D's, make it easy.\n\n32\n00:01:47.600 --> 00:01:51.480\nAnd I'll tell you what they are, most are self-explanatory, but they are number\n\n33\n00:01:51.480 --> 00:01:52.520\none do.\n\n34\n00:01:52.520 --> 00:01:53.520\nLeaders do.\n\n35\n00:01:53.520 --> 00:01:57.160\nSometimes you're the one that has to do the acting.\n\n36\n00:01:57.160 --> 00:02:01.000\nNumber two, leaders decide critical skill.\n\n37\n00:02:01.000 --> 00:02:04.000\nWe don't always get them right, but I think the more advanced you are as a\n\n38\n00:02:04.000 --> 00:02:04.640\nleader, the\n\n39\n00:02:04.640 --> 00:02:07.920\nbetter your decision-making capabilities become.\n\n40\n00:02:07.920 --> 00:02:10.960\nNumber three is delayed decision-making.\n\n41\n00:02:10.960 --> 00:02:14.400\nSometimes the best decision is to not make a decision and to hang out and wait\n\n42\n00:02:14.400 --> 00:02:14.840\nand see\n\n43\n00:02:14.840 --> 00:02:16.760\nif the facts change.\n\n44\n00:02:16.760 --> 00:02:20.120\nThe fourth D is delegate, can't do it all.\n\n45\n00:02:20.120 --> 00:02:25.520\nSo you have to rely on your team to do some or most of the work.\n\n46\n00:02:25.520 --> 00:02:30.000\nAnd then number five, which for me became important in the space I'm in, is\n\n47\n00:02:30.000 --> 00:02:30.520\nwhat I call\n\n48\n00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:36.860\ndividing it up, which is figuring out who you have to involve in either the\n\n49\n00:02:36.860 --> 00:02:37.600\ndoing or the\n\n50\n00:02:37.600 --> 00:02:39.960\ndecision-making process.\n\n51\n00:02:39.960 --> 00:02:42.780\nSometimes the decision falls to you and you alone, but other times you got to\n\n52\n00:02:42.780 --> 00:02:43.280\nget others\n\n53\n00:02:43.280 --> 00:02:44.560\nin the mix.\n\n54\n00:02:44.560 --> 00:02:48.160\nSo those are my five D's and I probably rely on all five of them pretty much\n\n55\n00:02:48.160 --> 00:02:49.480\nevery day.\n\n56\n00:02:49.480 --> 00:02:53.680\nAnd speaking of leadership, you've led the Big Ease Conference since 2013.\n\n57\n00:02:53.680 --> 00:02:57.880\nWhat's something about being commissioner that caught you by surprise?\n\n58\n00:02:57.880 --> 00:02:59.400\nSomething you didn't expect.\n\n59\n00:02:59.400 --> 00:03:03.990\nTo be honest, not a ton because I had been in a similar role when I was at the\n\n60\n00:03:03.990 --> 00:03:04.360\nWNBA as\n\n61\n00:03:04.360 --> 00:03:05.480\nthe president of the league.\n\n62\n00:03:05.480 --> 00:03:11.240\nAnd so there is commonality in the job description of being at the top of a\n\n63\n00:03:11.240 --> 00:03:12.640\nleague office in\n\n64\n00:03:12.640 --> 00:03:18.250\nterms of the things you do for your schools/teams, stakeholders, types of\n\n65\n00:03:18.250 --> 00:03:19.280\nstakeholders that you\n\n66\n00:03:19.280 --> 00:03:20.480\ndeal with.\n\n67\n00:03:20.480 --> 00:03:25.450\nSo while I'd never worked in college sports before this position, I had worked,\n\n68\n00:03:25.450 --> 00:03:26.160\nas I said,\n\n69\n00:03:26.160 --> 00:03:27.240\nin a league setting.\n\n70\n00:03:27.240 --> 00:03:31.200\nSo that made it so there weren't many surprises.\n\n71\n00:03:31.200 --> 00:03:34.790\nBut I will say the thing that did strike me and still does, to be honest, 10\n\n72\n00:03:34.790 --> 00:03:35.400\nyears in,\n\n73\n00:03:35.400 --> 00:03:40.320\nis the complexity of the NCAA bureaucracy.\n\n74\n00:03:40.320 --> 00:03:44.380\nI mean, our league's only 11 schools and so you can be somewhat nimble with\n\n75\n00:03:44.380 --> 00:03:44.920\nyour own\n\n76\n00:03:44.920 --> 00:03:46.720\ngroup.\n\n77\n00:03:46.720 --> 00:03:49.320\nBut the NCAA is 1100 schools.\n\n78\n00:03:49.320 --> 00:03:52.960\nDivision 1 alone is 360 plus schools.\n\n79\n00:03:52.960 --> 00:03:57.910\nAnd so it does create enormous challenges in terms of making decisions, getting\n\n80\n00:03:57.910 --> 00:03:58.440\nthings\n\n81\n00:03:58.440 --> 00:04:01.800\ndone, coming to a consensus on key matters.\n\n82\n00:04:01.800 --> 00:04:04.280\nAnd I had never been confronted with anything like that before.\n\n83\n00:04:04.280 --> 00:04:08.760\nI mean, even in the NBA and WNBA, we never got that big.\n\n84\n00:04:08.760 --> 00:04:12.560\nAnd so decision making and getting things done was seemed easier.\n\n85\n00:04:12.560 --> 00:04:16.440\nThe most surprising thing to me was the cumbarness of the ecosystem.\n\n86\n00:04:16.440 --> 00:04:20.040\nAs a leader, how'd you get your mindset geared to deal with that?\n\n87\n00:04:20.040 --> 00:04:22.000\nBecause it isn't going away.\n\n88\n00:04:22.000 --> 00:04:23.000\nIt's hard.\n\n89\n00:04:23.000 --> 00:04:24.000\nI'm not sure I'm there.\n\n90\n00:04:24.000 --> 00:04:27.500\nThere are sometimes moments of frustration, particularly because if I believe\n\n91\n00:04:27.500 --> 00:04:27.920\nstrongly\n\n92\n00:04:27.920 --> 00:04:32.810\nin something and others don't see it the same way and because it's a kind of a\n\n93\n00:04:32.810 --> 00:04:33.160\nbit of\n\n94\n00:04:33.160 --> 00:04:37.080\na democracy here, you know, things that you might believe in don't necessarily\n\n95\n00:04:37.080 --> 00:04:37.800\nget done.\n\n96\n00:04:37.800 --> 00:04:39.680\nSo that part, I think, has been hard.\n\n97\n00:04:39.680 --> 00:04:43.400\nBut you, I think, learn how to pick your battles.\n\n98\n00:04:43.400 --> 00:04:47.010\nAs I said, you focus on what you can get done, particularly within your own\n\n99\n00:04:47.010 --> 00:04:49.360\ngroup of schools.\n\n100\n00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:53.380\nAnd you just kind of keep plugging away, probably all I can say and hope that\n\n101\n00:04:53.380 --> 00:04:53.720\nmaybe\n\n102\n00:04:53.720 --> 00:04:55.760\ntiming, there's something that you want to get done.\n\n103\n00:04:55.760 --> 00:04:59.680\nThe timing will be more in your favor the next time the issue comes around.\n\n104\n00:04:59.680 --> 00:05:04.040\nHow would you describe your daily responsibilities as a commissioner?\n\n105\n00:05:04.040 --> 00:05:05.080\nIt's pretty varied.\n\n106\n00:05:05.080 --> 00:05:07.920\nYou know, it's an office job at the end of the day, a desk job.\n\n107\n00:05:07.920 --> 00:05:11.880\nSo I spent a lot of time on email on Zoom calls.\n\n108\n00:05:11.880 --> 00:05:17.520\nAt the same time, there's a lot of travel going to sports events, being part of\n\n109\n00:05:17.520 --> 00:05:18.360\ndifferent\n\n110\n00:05:18.360 --> 00:05:23.100\ngroups of people throughout the day, whether it's my staff, whether it's\n\n111\n00:05:23.100 --> 00:05:24.080\ncolleagues from\n\n112\n00:05:24.080 --> 00:05:28.700\nother conferences, whether it's our business partners, whether it's people on\n\n113\n00:05:28.700 --> 00:05:30.360\nthe NCA staff.\n\n114\n00:05:30.360 --> 00:05:32.280\nThey're based in Indianapolis.\n\n115\n00:05:32.280 --> 00:05:34.680\nI do media requests today.\n\n116\n00:05:34.680 --> 00:05:38.840\nI'm on the road today and spoke to a sports management class.\n\n117\n00:05:38.840 --> 00:05:41.860\nBack to our earlier discussion about the importance I think of giving back to\n\n118\n00:05:41.860 --> 00:05:43.960\nthe next generation.\n\n119\n00:05:43.960 --> 00:05:46.880\nIt's definitely a mix of activities.\n\n120\n00:05:46.880 --> 00:05:51.080\nAnd it keeps it fun, but the best part through it all is really you're working\n\n121\n00:05:51.080 --> 00:05:51.680\nwith some\n\n122\n00:05:51.680 --> 00:05:55.680\npeople who are very competent, pros in every sense of the word.\n\n123\n00:05:55.680 --> 00:05:58.360\nI've got a long network of relationships in the business.\n\n124\n00:05:58.360 --> 00:06:01.760\nSo that's probably one of the most enjoyable aspects of the job.\n\n125\n00:06:01.760 --> 00:06:06.300\nAs I understand at the conference was in a bit of turmoil when you stepped in,\n\n126\n00:06:06.300 --> 00:06:06.360\nhow\n\n127\n00:06:06.360 --> 00:06:12.040\ndid you go about assessing the landscape and then how did you write the ship?\n\n128\n00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:13.040\nThat's pretty much true.\n\n129\n00:06:13.040 --> 00:06:18.720\nThe league that I'm running was founded in 1979, 1979, as a college conference\n\n130\n00:06:18.720 --> 00:06:19.320\nfocused\n\n131\n00:06:19.320 --> 00:06:20.840\non basketball.\n\n132\n00:06:20.840 --> 00:06:26.870\nOver the years, the league added teams/schools, it added sports, it became more\n\n133\n00:06:26.870 --> 00:06:27.480\nof a, in\n\n134\n00:06:27.480 --> 00:06:30.750\nsome respects, as much of, or it's not more of a football conference than a\n\n135\n00:06:30.750 --> 00:06:31.400\nbasketball\n\n136\n00:06:31.400 --> 00:06:32.400\nconference.\n\n137\n00:06:32.400 --> 00:06:36.960\nAnd that led to tension and fragmentation so that when I took over, the league\n\n138\n00:06:36.960 --> 00:06:37.600\nin effect\n\n139\n00:06:37.600 --> 00:06:40.080\nhad been through a breakup.\n\n140\n00:06:40.080 --> 00:06:46.070\nAnd the schools that were the basketball schools were staking out their own\n\n141\n00:06:46.070 --> 00:06:46.600\ncourse.\n\n142\n00:06:46.600 --> 00:06:53.760\nAnd so it was a relaunch, if you will, of the sort of the old Big East model.\n\n143\n00:06:53.760 --> 00:06:57.910\nBut in a new environment with new people, with some new pillars, including\n\n144\n00:06:57.910 --> 00:06:58.640\nlocation of\n\n145\n00:06:58.640 --> 00:07:02.440\nthe conference office, and then importantly, it's network partner.\n\n146\n00:07:02.440 --> 00:07:07.690\nFor me, it was, as I said, a chance to use skills I'd learned at the NBA and\n\n147\n00:07:07.690 --> 00:07:08.640\nthe WNBA.\n\n148\n00:07:08.640 --> 00:07:14.000\nI was familiar with college sports to a degree because I was an athlete myself.\n\n149\n00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:17.840\nSo I had a sense of kind of, you know, what the relationship was between a\n\n150\n00:07:17.840 --> 00:07:18.240\nschool and\n\n151\n00:07:18.240 --> 00:07:19.960\nan athlete.\n\n152\n00:07:19.960 --> 00:07:22.830\nAnd it was a lot of work, quite honestly, because I, as I said earlier, had\n\n153\n00:07:22.830 --> 00:07:23.440\nnever worked\n\n154\n00:07:23.440 --> 00:07:24.560\nin college sports before.\n\n155\n00:07:24.560 --> 00:07:28.280\nSo a learning curve was steep, and just how did I do it?\n\n156\n00:07:28.280 --> 00:07:32.830\nLong hours, trying to listen, talking to a lot of people, trying to get help\n\n157\n00:07:32.830 --> 00:07:33.240\nfrom a\n\n158\n00:07:33.240 --> 00:07:37.830\nlot of sources, and getting sort of the manpower on board to help me with\n\n159\n00:07:37.830 --> 00:07:38.800\nthings that I couldn't\n\n160\n00:07:38.800 --> 00:07:39.800\ndo myself.\n\n161\n00:07:39.800 --> 00:07:43.940\nSo kind of a, I would say it really probably took me the better part of two\n\n162\n00:07:43.940 --> 00:07:44.640\nyears to feel\n\n163\n00:07:44.640 --> 00:07:48.450\nlike I had gotten the conference back to where it needed to be, to be able to\n\n164\n00:07:48.450 --> 00:07:49.200\nfocus on some\n\n165\n00:07:49.200 --> 00:07:52.720\nthings that were more strategic rather than get through the day.\n\n166\n00:07:52.720 --> 00:07:57.080\nSo speaking of focus, what were your major tenets that really turned around\n\n167\n00:07:57.080 --> 00:07:57.720\nwhere the\n\n168\n00:07:57.720 --> 00:08:02.080\nconference was and got you to that point where you could think strategically?\n\n169\n00:08:02.080 --> 00:08:05.240\nWell, it was, you know, a little bit of everything.\n\n170\n00:08:05.240 --> 00:08:09.500\nI mean, again, it was, I had a higher staff when I took over as the head of the\n\n171\n00:08:09.500 --> 00:08:10.720\nBig East.\n\n172\n00:08:10.720 --> 00:08:14.840\nWe, the staff had been essentially left behind in the prior iteration of the\n\n173\n00:08:14.840 --> 00:08:15.680\nconference,\n\n174\n00:08:15.680 --> 00:08:19.080\nwhich continued, but with different schools.\n\n175\n00:08:19.080 --> 00:08:23.640\nSo getting staff on board was an important to do.\n\n176\n00:08:23.640 --> 00:08:24.640\nWe really had nothing else.\n\n177\n00:08:24.640 --> 00:08:28.000\nI mean, I had no office, so that was a big to do in the first years finding\n\n178\n00:08:28.000 --> 00:08:28.680\noffice space\n\n179\n00:08:28.680 --> 00:08:30.880\nin Midtown Manhattan.\n\n180\n00:08:30.880 --> 00:08:32.800\nWe had to set up a website.\n\n181\n00:08:32.800 --> 00:08:35.400\nWe had to set up email system.\n\n182\n00:08:35.400 --> 00:08:39.560\nI mean, sounds funny, but I was on Gmail for the first several months.\n\n183\n00:08:39.560 --> 00:08:42.720\nSo we got an office email account set up.\n\n184\n00:08:42.720 --> 00:08:45.040\nWe, one of our schools was managing our finances.\n\n185\n00:08:45.040 --> 00:08:51.400\nSo we had to reestablish that and all the controls that come with managing your\n\n186\n00:08:51.400 --> 00:08:52.000\nbudget, interfacing\n\n187\n00:08:52.000 --> 00:08:53.280\nwith our business partners.\n\n188\n00:08:53.280 --> 00:08:55.880\nOf course, it was critical, especially in television.\n\n189\n00:08:55.880 --> 00:08:59.360\nAnd then all the things that conferences do had to get done.\n\n190\n00:08:59.360 --> 00:09:03.150\nSo that's scheduling, dealing with officials, getting your conference\n\n191\n00:09:03.150 --> 00:09:04.240\nchampionships up and\n\n192\n00:09:04.240 --> 00:09:05.240\nrunning.\n\n193\n00:09:05.240 --> 00:09:06.880\nWe sponsor 22 sports here.\n\n194\n00:09:06.880 --> 00:09:10.690\nSo it's 22 conference championships that we've got to conduct over the course\n\n195\n00:09:10.690 --> 00:09:11.040\nof the\n\n196\n00:09:11.040 --> 00:09:12.040\nacademic year.\n\n197\n00:09:12.040 --> 00:09:13.960\nSo I couldn't do all that myself.\n\n198\n00:09:13.960 --> 00:09:17.710\nAnd again, it sort of mostly went back to hiring the right people who could get\n\n199\n00:09:17.710 --> 00:09:18.040\nthat\n\n200\n00:09:18.040 --> 00:09:19.200\ndone.\n\n201\n00:09:19.200 --> 00:09:25.720\nAnd you have to bring in people and bring in high talent in a time of turmoil.\n\n202\n00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:27.520\nWhat was your sales pitch?\n\n203\n00:09:27.520 --> 00:09:29.640\nThe excitement of it all, to be honest.\n\n204\n00:09:29.640 --> 00:09:34.840\nIt was, you know, I had the benefit of an established brand in the big East.\n\n205\n00:09:34.840 --> 00:09:39.050\nIt was known to many people in the sports business as a premier conference,\n\n206\n00:09:39.050 --> 00:09:39.680\nwhich had\n\n207\n00:09:39.680 --> 00:09:43.160\nhad tremendous success over the years.\n\n208\n00:09:43.160 --> 00:09:46.920\nGrowing up shopping in New York City with the excitement that went with that.\n\n209\n00:09:46.920 --> 00:09:51.820\nSo it was really about, hey, come be part of this venerable organization that's\n\n210\n00:09:51.820 --> 00:09:52.440\nstarting\n\n211\n00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:59.240\na new, in a new place with new faces and a couple of new schools.\n\n212\n00:09:59.240 --> 00:10:03.920\nAnd be part of getting it going essentially from the ground up again.\n\n213\n00:10:03.920 --> 00:10:06.720\nAnd some people aren't up for that, to your point, maybe.\n\n214\n00:10:06.720 --> 00:10:08.280\nMaybe that's who you're alluding to and others are.\n\n215\n00:10:08.280 --> 00:10:09.280\nI mean, I was.\n\n216\n00:10:09.280 --> 00:10:10.280\nThat's why I took the job.\n\n217\n00:10:10.280 --> 00:10:12.080\nI thought that would be an exciting challenge.\n\n218\n00:10:12.080 --> 00:10:15.720\nYou mentioned you had 28, I think 28 conference champions.\n\n219\n00:10:15.720 --> 00:10:18.160\nAnd now you're so known for basketball.\n\n220\n00:10:18.160 --> 00:10:19.320\nYou're in the Hall of Fame.\n\n221\n00:10:19.320 --> 00:10:21.680\nYou've got all these accolades as a great basketball player.\n\n222\n00:10:21.680 --> 00:10:23.400\nCame up in the basketball world.\n\n223\n00:10:23.400 --> 00:10:27.760\nHow do you overcome the perception to show that you cared about these other\n\n224\n00:10:27.760 --> 00:10:28.480\nsports and\n\n225\n00:10:28.480 --> 00:10:32.200\nthese other athletes besides just the basketball programs?\n\n226\n00:10:32.200 --> 00:10:34.520\nEarly on, it was showing up at everything.\n\n227\n00:10:34.520 --> 00:10:38.670\nMy travel now is such that I don't quite get to everything every year, but I\n\n228\n00:10:38.670 --> 00:10:39.120\nhave a\n\n229\n00:10:39.120 --> 00:10:42.240\nrotation for that and I have other staff that can step in.\n\n230\n00:10:42.240 --> 00:10:43.440\nBut early on, it was that.\n\n231\n00:10:43.440 --> 00:10:49.830\nIt was just showing up at championships for our other 20 sports, getting to\n\n232\n00:10:49.830 --> 00:10:50.440\nknow some\n\n233\n00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:54.440\nof the coaches, developing a personal relationship with them, listening to\n\n234\n00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:56.520\ntheir concerns, and\n\n235\n00:10:56.520 --> 00:10:59.720\nbeing humble about the fact that I didn't know everything.\n\n236\n00:10:59.720 --> 00:11:01.720\nI've been an athlete my whole life.\n\n237\n00:11:01.720 --> 00:11:04.440\nI have a real appreciation for sports.\n\n238\n00:11:04.440 --> 00:11:06.160\nSome of the sports we sponsor I did.\n\n239\n00:11:06.160 --> 00:11:08.280\nI played field hockey in high school.\n\n240\n00:11:08.280 --> 00:11:10.440\nI was a competitive swimmer.\n\n241\n00:11:10.440 --> 00:11:13.520\nI ran track and field.\n\n242\n00:11:13.520 --> 00:11:17.560\nSo when I go to those events, I actually have a ball because I just remember,\n\n243\n00:11:17.560 --> 00:11:18.000\noh my God,\n\n244\n00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:19.000\nI remember doing this.\n\n245\n00:11:19.000 --> 00:11:22.560\nAnd it's actually quite fun to relive those memories.\n\n246\n00:11:22.560 --> 00:11:26.220\nIt just takes the effort and time you put into developed relationships and to\n\n247\n00:11:26.220 --> 00:11:27.960\nshow up.\n\n248\n00:11:27.960 --> 00:11:31.370\nOne of the schools in the Big East, Yukon, won the men's national basketball\n\n249\n00:11:31.370 --> 00:11:32.080\nchampionship\n\n250\n00:11:32.080 --> 00:11:33.080\nlast year.\n\n251\n00:11:33.080 --> 00:11:38.200\nHow do you leverage individual team wins like that to grow the larger brand, to\n\n252\n00:11:38.200 --> 00:11:39.000\ngrow the\n\n253\n00:11:39.000 --> 00:11:40.000\nconference?\n\n254\n00:11:40.000 --> 00:11:41.160\nIt is brand strengthening.\n\n255\n00:11:41.160 --> 00:11:42.160\nI can attest to that.\n\n256\n00:11:42.160 --> 00:11:45.860\nAnd we had it two other times because Villanova won the national championship\n\n257\n00:11:45.860 --> 00:11:46.920\nin men's basketball\n\n258\n00:11:46.920 --> 00:11:49.800\nin 2016 and 2018.\n\n259\n00:11:49.800 --> 00:11:54.190\nAnd that was really incredible validation of this decision of these basketball\n\n260\n00:11:54.190 --> 00:11:54.640\nschools\n\n261\n00:11:54.640 --> 00:11:59.440\nto stake out on their own, separate themselves from football 10 years ago.\n\n262\n00:11:59.440 --> 00:12:03.730\nAnd so Villanova, my hat goes off to coach Wright and their president, Father\n\n263\n00:12:03.730 --> 00:12:04.160\nPeter\n\n264\n00:12:04.160 --> 00:12:10.000\nDonahue, their athletic director, Mark Texan, they got it done.\n\n265\n00:12:10.000 --> 00:12:15.190\nAnd that carried us the next year and beyond just in terms of brand recognition\n\n266\n00:12:15.190 --> 00:12:16.040\n, probably\n\n267\n00:12:16.040 --> 00:12:17.400\nhelped a bit with viewership.\n\n268\n00:12:17.400 --> 00:12:20.160\nOur ratings have gone up steadily every year.\n\n269\n00:12:20.160 --> 00:12:25.360\nIt helps with some of the sales efforts, we sell sponsorships to our conference\n\n270\n00:12:25.360 --> 00:12:26.520\nchampionships\n\n271\n00:12:26.520 --> 00:12:30.240\nand our men's basketball tournament in particular has become very attractive as\n\n272\n00:12:30.240 --> 00:12:30.840\na commercial\n\n273\n00:12:30.840 --> 00:12:31.840\nproperty.\n\n274\n00:12:31.840 --> 00:12:33.640\nWe play at Madison Square Garden.\n\n275\n00:12:33.640 --> 00:12:36.400\nIt's been there 42 years.\n\n276\n00:12:36.400 --> 00:12:39.840\nIt's uber competitive and it sells out.\n\n277\n00:12:39.840 --> 00:12:43.530\nAnd that wouldn't be happening if we didn't have a reputation for having\n\n278\n00:12:43.530 --> 00:12:44.600\nbasketball played\n\n279\n00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:48.040\nat the highest level in the college space.\n\n280\n00:12:48.040 --> 00:12:51.680\nAnd now we've got Yukon to thank for keeping it at a high level.\n\n281\n00:12:51.680 --> 00:12:55.160\nSo it's really those areas I think that benefit.\n\n282\n00:12:55.160 --> 00:12:58.520\nAnd more than anything, it's just a source of great pride for our schools\n\n283\n00:12:58.520 --> 00:12:59.560\nbecause basketball\n\n284\n00:12:59.560 --> 00:13:01.520\nis their priority.\n\n285\n00:13:01.520 --> 00:13:04.800\nAnd when you get something like that done, it helps everybody.\n\n286\n00:13:04.800 --> 00:13:10.780\nYukon actually left the Big Ease Conference in 2013, but you brought them back\n\n287\n00:13:10.780 --> 00:13:12.200\nin 2020.\n\n288\n00:13:12.200 --> 00:13:14.160\nTell us a story of how you did it.\n\n289\n00:13:14.160 --> 00:13:18.870\nWell, the sort of modification of the fact is they elected not to come with the\n\n290\n00:13:18.870 --> 00:13:19.240\nseven\n\n291\n00:13:19.240 --> 00:13:22.600\nold Big E schools who left to form the new Big Ease that I'm part of.\n\n292\n00:13:22.600 --> 00:13:23.880\nThey stay behind.\n\n293\n00:13:23.880 --> 00:13:27.280\nAnd I think that had a lot to do with their interest in football.\n\n294\n00:13:27.280 --> 00:13:30.940\nThey are playing continuing to play at the FBS level of football, which is the\n\n295\n00:13:30.940 --> 00:13:31.440\nhighest\n\n296\n00:13:31.440 --> 00:13:32.440\nlevel.\n\n297\n00:13:32.440 --> 00:13:34.360\nFCS is the next level down.\n\n298\n00:13:34.360 --> 00:13:38.040\nSo they had a different agenda 10 years ago.\n\n299\n00:13:38.040 --> 00:13:42.580\nAnd I can't speak to their interests, but we always kind of thought of them as\n\n300\n00:13:42.580 --> 00:13:43.400\na potential\n\n301\n00:13:43.400 --> 00:13:44.680\naddition.\n\n302\n00:13:44.680 --> 00:13:47.900\nThey were very different and still are from the current Big E schools because\n\n303\n00:13:47.900 --> 00:13:48.280\nthey're\n\n304\n00:13:48.280 --> 00:13:49.480\na big public university.\n\n305\n00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:54.340\nThey have a different profile than our other 10 who are private schools, most\n\n306\n00:13:54.340 --> 00:13:55.240\nof them Catholic\n\n307\n00:13:55.240 --> 00:13:56.800\nschools.\n\n308\n00:13:56.800 --> 00:13:59.600\nAgain continuing to play football at a high level.\n\n309\n00:13:59.600 --> 00:14:05.280\nBut in Yukon, we saw history, we saw rivalries, we saw great geography.\n\n310\n00:14:05.280 --> 00:14:09.630\nAnd we saw great fans and great basketball fans in particular and great\n\n311\n00:14:09.630 --> 00:14:10.520\nbasketball.\n\n312\n00:14:10.520 --> 00:14:15.490\nAnd that all combined beginning in around 2019, 2018 to sort of get discussions\n\n313\n00:14:15.490 --> 00:14:15.840\ngoing\n\n314\n00:14:15.840 --> 00:14:21.320\nabout the possibility of them rejoining the Big East for the second time around\n\n315\n00:14:21.320 --> 00:14:21.640\n.\n\n316\n00:14:21.640 --> 00:14:27.200\nAnd it was discussions with their AD, Dave Benedict, who's terrific.\n\n317\n00:14:27.200 --> 00:14:29.360\nThey had a consultant in the mix.\n\n318\n00:14:29.360 --> 00:14:33.990\nIt was a negotiation because these are, always are in terms of the conditions\n\n319\n00:14:33.990 --> 00:14:35.440\nof reentry and\n\n320\n00:14:35.440 --> 00:14:37.640\nsome of the economics around that.\n\n321\n00:14:37.640 --> 00:14:38.640\nAnd it worked out.\n\n322\n00:14:38.640 --> 00:14:42.220\nAnd so we announced in 2019, we gave it a year to sort of get everything ready\n\n323\n00:14:42.220 --> 00:14:42.480\nthat\n\n324\n00:14:42.480 --> 00:14:44.000\nthey were going to come back in 2020.\n\n325\n00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:45.000\nThat was the good news.\n\n326\n00:14:45.000 --> 00:14:48.990\nIt was they came back during COVID, right in the heart of it and the teeth of\n\n327\n00:14:48.990 --> 00:14:49.320\nit.\n\n328\n00:14:49.320 --> 00:14:54.000\nSo it was a funky first year for them back in the Big East in 2021.\n\n329\n00:14:54.000 --> 00:14:56.240\nBut they've added a great deal.\n\n330\n00:14:56.240 --> 00:14:58.000\nThey've been really great partners.\n\n331\n00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:02.160\nThey're women's basketball, of course under coach Oriama is among the best\n\n332\n00:15:02.160 --> 00:15:02.840\nprograms of\n\n333\n00:15:02.840 --> 00:15:04.480\nall time.\n\n334\n00:15:04.480 --> 00:15:08.400\nAnd so it's been for us win-win, hopefully for them too.\n\n335\n00:15:08.400 --> 00:15:10.080\nAnd we're excited.\n\n336\n00:15:10.080 --> 00:15:12.920\nTheir basketball fortunes are clearly continuing this year.\n\n337\n00:15:12.920 --> 00:15:16.540\nI think they've got a good shot as anybody to repeat as a national championship\n\n338\n00:15:16.540 --> 00:15:16.880\nthat\n\n339\n00:15:16.880 --> 00:15:19.040\nmen's basketball come April.\n\n340\n00:15:19.040 --> 00:15:23.480\nYou know, Val, it seems like colleges just jump from conference to conference.\n\n341\n00:15:23.480 --> 00:15:26.960\nIt's kind of hard to keep up with them in which conference you're in.\n\n342\n00:15:26.960 --> 00:15:31.520\nHow much of your job is really keeping the schools that you have in the\n\n343\n00:15:31.520 --> 00:15:32.640\nconference?\n\n344\n00:15:32.640 --> 00:15:36.160\nIs that a big challenge for you or is it, how do you do it?\n\n345\n00:15:36.160 --> 00:15:38.440\nI mean, what's your strategy on that front?\n\n346\n00:15:38.440 --> 00:15:41.790\nThe answer is, yeah, we think about this a lot because of what's been happening\n\n347\n00:15:41.790 --> 00:15:41.920\nin the\n\n348\n00:15:41.920 --> 00:15:46.450\nlast few years and we're very much monitoring what's been going on with these\n\n349\n00:15:46.450 --> 00:15:47.080\nfootball\n\n350\n00:15:47.080 --> 00:15:52.010\nconferences as we see teams jumping, schools jumping and cross-country travel\n\n351\n00:15:52.010 --> 00:15:52.680\nnow, you\n\n352\n00:15:52.680 --> 00:15:55.080\nknow, happening, hasn't happened yet.\n\n353\n00:15:55.080 --> 00:15:58.640\nThese new configurations don't kick in until this summer.\n\n354\n00:15:58.640 --> 00:16:01.600\nSo no one knows how that'll work out yet.\n\n355\n00:16:01.600 --> 00:16:03.520\nWe have a lot of communication within the Big E's.\n\n356\n00:16:03.520 --> 00:16:05.400\nWe talk about this.\n\n357\n00:16:05.400 --> 00:16:09.720\nI do hope that, and I believe, that our schools do see a value proposition in\n\n358\n00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:11.360\nwhat we are\n\n359\n00:16:11.360 --> 00:16:15.370\nand being fine with what we're not, which is, you know, we're not a football\n\n360\n00:16:15.370 --> 00:16:15.840\nleague\n\n361\n00:16:15.840 --> 00:16:18.800\nat this point, so we're not in that fray.\n\n362\n00:16:18.800 --> 00:16:21.840\nAnd I think our schools basically are, you know, are content with that.\n\n363\n00:16:21.840 --> 00:16:25.290\nYou know, we're, I think, I don't want to sound immodest here, but I think we\n\n364\n00:16:25.290 --> 00:16:25.800\nare the\n\n365\n00:16:25.800 --> 00:16:30.880\ndestination for a basketball school, for whom basketball is the priority sport.\n\n366\n00:16:30.880 --> 00:16:33.640\nIt's not a second priority to football.\n\n367\n00:16:33.640 --> 00:16:36.780\nAnd that can't be said about many schools in the country because a lot of the\n\n368\n00:16:36.780 --> 00:16:37.560\ngood basketball\n\n369\n00:16:37.560 --> 00:16:39.200\nschools are also football schools.\n\n370\n00:16:39.200 --> 00:16:43.650\nYou know, the combination of that camaraderie, the shared vision of our schools\n\n371\n00:16:43.650 --> 00:16:44.280\n, being on\n\n372\n00:16:44.280 --> 00:16:47.910\nnational television in a significant way, which we are because of our\n\n373\n00:16:47.910 --> 00:16:48.760\npartnership with\n\n374\n00:16:48.760 --> 00:16:52.130\nFox Sports, playing our men's tournament in the garden, playing our women's\n\n375\n00:16:52.130 --> 00:16:52.720\ntournament\n\n376\n00:16:52.720 --> 00:16:57.230\nin Mohig and Sun Arena in Uncustville, which is a prime venue for women's\n\n377\n00:16:57.230 --> 00:16:57.760\nbasketball,\n\n378\n00:16:57.760 --> 00:17:02.440\nmaintaining quality programs in our other sports that we sponsor, being academ\n\n379\n00:17:02.440 --> 00:17:02.920\nically\n\n380\n00:17:02.920 --> 00:17:06.800\nmindful, doing other initiatives that enhance our brand.\n\n381\n00:17:06.800 --> 00:17:07.800\nIt's a mix of things.\n\n382\n00:17:07.800 --> 00:17:09.120\nIt's not one thing.\n\n383\n00:17:09.120 --> 00:17:13.140\nI have no crystal ball here, David, on what the future holds for college sports\n\n384\n00:17:13.140 --> 00:17:13.400\n.\n\n385\n00:17:13.400 --> 00:17:17.680\nI hope it's a good future because it adds so much to so many lives.\n\n386\n00:17:17.680 --> 00:17:20.790\nYou know, I can say, I think right now the big East, ironically enough, because\n\n387\n00:17:20.790 --> 00:17:21.320\nthis league\n\n388\n00:17:21.320 --> 00:17:25.250\nwas picked apart 10 or 15, 20 years ago, this league is now in a stable\n\n389\n00:17:25.250 --> 00:17:25.880\nposition as\n\n390\n00:17:25.880 --> 00:17:26.880\nanybody.\n\n391\n00:17:26.880 --> 00:17:27.880\nThat's great.\n\n392\n00:17:27.880 --> 00:17:30.770\nYou know, and speaking of movement, you know, there's this thing called the\n\n393\n00:17:30.770 --> 00:17:32.040\ntransfer portal.\n\n394\n00:17:32.040 --> 00:17:35.520\nCan you talk a little bit about that, you know, what it is and how it's\n\n395\n00:17:35.520 --> 00:17:36.320\nimpacted your\n\n396\n00:17:36.320 --> 00:17:37.800\nleadership if it has?\n\n397\n00:17:37.800 --> 00:17:41.560\nI mean, how do you get the best at that as a conference?\n\n398\n00:17:41.560 --> 00:17:46.360\nWell, just for your listener here, up until a few years ago, there was a role\n\n399\n00:17:46.360 --> 00:17:47.120\nin college\n\n400\n00:17:47.120 --> 00:17:52.970\nsports that if you transferred in one of five sports, football, men's and women\n\n401\n00:17:52.970 --> 00:17:54.600\n's basketball,\n\n402\n00:17:54.600 --> 00:17:58.520\nbaseball and men's ice hockey, you had to serve what was known as a year in\n\n403\n00:17:58.520 --> 00:17:59.400\nresidency,\n\n404\n00:17:59.400 --> 00:18:00.800\nmeaning you could transfer to the school.\n\n405\n00:18:00.800 --> 00:18:02.960\nYou could go to class, you could go to practice, you could do everything, but\n\n406\n00:18:02.960 --> 00:18:03.440\nyou couldn't\n\n407\n00:18:03.440 --> 00:18:06.040\nplay in games.\n\n408\n00:18:06.040 --> 00:18:10.410\nAnd for a variety of reasons, that role was changed a few years ago to allow\n\n409\n00:18:10.410 --> 00:18:11.000\nfor what\n\n410\n00:18:11.000 --> 00:18:14.840\nwas then known as one time immediate eligibility in those five sports.\n\n411\n00:18:14.840 --> 00:18:17.630\nEvery other sport you could have transferred without sitting out, but those\n\n412\n00:18:17.630 --> 00:18:18.080\nfive sports\n\n413\n00:18:18.080 --> 00:18:20.080\nyou had the one year wait.\n\n414\n00:18:20.080 --> 00:18:23.520\nThe rule changed a few years ago, and that's where we are.\n\n415\n00:18:23.520 --> 00:18:27.420\nThere's a chance that for multiple transfers, they might also be able to play\n\n416\n00:18:27.420 --> 00:18:28.280\nright away,\n\n417\n00:18:28.280 --> 00:18:33.160\nbut that versus sitting out, but that's under review.\n\n418\n00:18:33.160 --> 00:18:36.240\nSo the answer to your question is, it's really our schools that are feeling it\n\n419\n00:18:36.240 --> 00:18:37.080\non that one.\n\n420\n00:18:37.080 --> 00:18:41.170\nI mean, they're the ones that are dealing with what this has meant for roster\n\n421\n00:18:41.170 --> 00:18:42.840\nstability,\n\n422\n00:18:42.840 --> 00:18:46.200\nroster composition, roster development.\n\n423\n00:18:46.200 --> 00:18:49.130\nI mean, it used to be that a basketball coach, for example, would spend a fair\n\n424\n00:18:49.130 --> 00:18:49.520\namount of\n\n425\n00:18:49.520 --> 00:18:51.600\ntime recruiting a high school athlete.\n\n426\n00:18:51.600 --> 00:18:55.020\nNow, maybe instead of doing that, or in addition to doing that, they go to the\n\n427\n00:18:55.020 --> 00:18:56.000\nso-called transfer\n\n428\n00:18:56.000 --> 00:19:00.880\nportal, which is basically just a way of saying, you know, that's your notice.\n\n429\n00:19:00.880 --> 00:19:03.000\nThat's where you give notice, if you're an athlete, do you want to go to a\n\n430\n00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:03.440\ndifferent\n\n431\n00:19:03.440 --> 00:19:04.720\nschool?\n\n432\n00:19:04.720 --> 00:19:08.960\nAnd then that's sort of a, you know, it's basically a virtual holding pen.\n\n433\n00:19:08.960 --> 00:19:11.700\nAnd then once you say that you're available, then other schools can come and\n\n434\n00:19:11.700 --> 00:19:12.160\nthey can,\n\n435\n00:19:12.160 --> 00:19:15.720\nyou know, try to get you to transfer to their school.\n\n436\n00:19:15.720 --> 00:19:20.220\nSo that's really, it's really our coaches that are dealing with the intricacies\n\n437\n00:19:20.220 --> 00:19:20.520\n, the\n\n438\n00:19:20.520 --> 00:19:25.560\nnuances, the ramifications of this new environment where athletes have much\n\n439\n00:19:25.560 --> 00:19:26.800\nmore freedom to move\n\n440\n00:19:26.800 --> 00:19:28.520\naround.\n\n441\n00:19:28.520 --> 00:19:32.380\nAnd in some cases, it's worked to the benefit of schools and others where you\n\n442\n00:19:32.380 --> 00:19:33.040\ncan't hold\n\n443\n00:19:33.040 --> 00:19:36.400\non to the player, it's worked to your disadvantage.\n\n444\n00:19:36.400 --> 00:19:40.170\nOur hope generally is that the athletes who do this can maintain their academic\n\n445\n00:19:40.170 --> 00:19:40.680\nstanding\n\n446\n00:19:40.680 --> 00:19:44.560\nbecause they need to maintain academic standing in order to stay eligible.\n\n447\n00:19:44.560 --> 00:19:49.320\nIt's sort of too early to say the trend lines on whether that's happening.\n\n448\n00:19:49.320 --> 00:19:53.400\nHey, everyone.\n\n449\n00:19:53.400 --> 00:19:55.240\nIt's Kula here from Three More Questions.\n\n450\n00:19:55.240 --> 00:20:00.280\nAnd if you haven't downloaded the new How Leaders Lead app, you are missing out\n\n451\n00:20:00.280 --> 00:20:00.480\n.\n\n452\n00:20:00.480 --> 00:20:03.920\nIf you're leading a team, I know it's really hard to find time to consume\n\n453\n00:20:03.920 --> 00:20:05.000\nleadership development\n\n454\n00:20:05.000 --> 00:20:08.040\ncontent and continue investing in yourself.\n\n455\n00:20:08.040 --> 00:20:10.640\nThat's the whole reason we launched this app.\n\n456\n00:20:10.640 --> 00:20:14.840\nIf you just take two minutes a day each morning to watch the daily leadership\n\n457\n00:20:14.840 --> 00:20:15.640\ninsight in the\n\n458\n00:20:15.640 --> 00:20:19.530\nHow Leaders Lead app, you'll stay inspired with practical leadership lessons\n\n459\n00:20:19.530 --> 00:20:20.040\nfrom the\n\n460\n00:20:20.040 --> 00:20:22.040\nworld's greatest leaders.\n\n461\n00:20:22.040 --> 00:20:26.530\nImagine starting your day with inspiration from Condoleezza Rice, Tom Brady and\n\n462\n00:20:26.530 --> 00:20:27.800\nJamie Diamond,\n\n463\n00:20:27.800 --> 00:20:28.960\njust to name a few.\n\n464\n00:20:28.960 --> 00:20:33.080\nI've started using the app and I love how the daily leadership insight gets my\n\n465\n00:20:33.080 --> 00:20:33.840\nmind right\n\n466\n00:20:33.840 --> 00:20:36.680\nbefore the busyness of my day starts.\n\n467\n00:20:36.680 --> 00:20:40.190\nDownload the How Leaders Lead app today in the app store and stay inspired with\n\n468\n00:20:40.190 --> 00:20:40.640\namazing\n\n469\n00:20:40.640 --> 00:20:50.680\nleadership wisdom in just two minutes a day.\n\n470\n00:20:50.680 --> 00:20:54.490\nSo as commissioner, then what would be your biggest challenge that you would be\n\n471\n00:20:54.490 --> 00:20:55.080\nup against\n\n472\n00:20:55.080 --> 00:20:56.280\ntoday?\n\n473\n00:20:56.280 --> 00:20:57.280\nIt's a little bit of everything.\n\n474\n00:20:57.280 --> 00:21:01.880\nI mean, in the case of our league, it's trying to support our schools in every\n\n475\n00:21:01.880 --> 00:21:02.840\nway imaginable\n\n476\n00:21:02.840 --> 00:21:06.040\nso they can stay competitive in basketball.\n\n477\n00:21:06.040 --> 00:21:10.140\nWe do that by managing the business relationships that make that success at\n\n478\n00:21:10.140 --> 00:21:11.640\nleast in part possible.\n\n479\n00:21:11.640 --> 00:21:15.540\nFor me, as a commissioner, part of my job is keeping up with what's happening\n\n480\n00:21:15.540 --> 00:21:16.320\nnationally.\n\n481\n00:21:16.320 --> 00:21:20.400\nYou noted before there's issues now around transfers and player movement.\n\n482\n00:21:20.400 --> 00:21:24.400\nThere's issues around conference realignment, which we discussed.\n\n483\n00:21:24.400 --> 00:21:28.560\nThere's a new world now with name, image and likeness opportunities for these\n\n484\n00:21:28.560 --> 00:21:29.280\nathletes,\n\n485\n00:21:29.280 --> 00:21:33.490\nwhich is just another way of saying they can now earn endorsement money from\n\n486\n00:21:33.490 --> 00:21:34.440\nthird parties,\n\n487\n00:21:34.440 --> 00:21:38.500\nfor using their likeness and ads or on social media posts or make speeches or\n\n488\n00:21:38.500 --> 00:21:39.720\nmake appearances.\n\n489\n00:21:39.720 --> 00:21:42.400\nThat's a whole new world for our schools.\n\n490\n00:21:42.400 --> 00:21:46.040\nWithout a lot of regulation, long story there, but it's a little bit of a free-\n\n491\n00:21:46.040 --> 00:21:46.640\nfor-all right\n\n492\n00:21:46.640 --> 00:21:48.280\nnow on that.\n\n493\n00:21:48.280 --> 00:21:52.360\nSo just trying to stay up with that, trying to figure out if any of that\n\n494\n00:21:52.360 --> 00:21:53.360\nrequires conference\n\n495\n00:21:53.360 --> 00:21:59.540\npolicies, conference rules, trying to figure out how to maximize revenue.\n\n496\n00:21:59.540 --> 00:22:03.620\nOur schools get the net revenue that we bring in as a conference, so being\n\n497\n00:22:03.620 --> 00:22:04.440\nmindful of our\n\n498\n00:22:04.440 --> 00:22:07.230\nbudget and what our schools need to stay competitive, particularly in\n\n499\n00:22:07.230 --> 00:22:08.440\nbasketball is top of mind\n\n500\n00:22:08.440 --> 00:22:10.600\nfor me and my staff.\n\n501\n00:22:10.600 --> 00:22:14.350\nThen most of all, just recognizing our role in the ecosystem and trying to make\n\n502\n00:22:14.350 --> 00:22:14.760\nsure that\n\n503\n00:22:14.760 --> 00:22:21.300\nwe're helping maintain a constructive work environment for our athletes, our\n\n504\n00:22:21.300 --> 00:22:22.000\nstaff,\n\n505\n00:22:22.000 --> 00:22:26.320\na constructive playing environment for our athletes, and trying to keep the Big\n\n506\n00:22:26.320 --> 00:22:26.600\nE's\n\n507\n00:22:26.600 --> 00:22:31.030\nbrand healthy and strong because that adds a halo effect to our schools and\n\n508\n00:22:31.030 --> 00:22:31.760\nhelps them\n\n509\n00:22:31.760 --> 00:22:32.760\nin other ways.\n\n510\n00:22:32.760 --> 00:22:36.340\nVal, I want to talk more about how you lead, but first I want to take you back\n\n511\n00:22:36.340 --> 00:22:36.840\na little\n\n512\n00:22:36.840 --> 00:22:37.840\nbit.\n\n513\n00:22:37.840 --> 00:22:40.780\nWhat's the story from your childhood that shaped the kind of leader you are\n\n514\n00:22:40.780 --> 00:22:41.240\ntoday?\n\n515\n00:22:41.240 --> 00:22:45.730\nI'll give you a story, I'm not sure it shaped my leadership path, but it did\n\n516\n00:22:45.730 --> 00:22:46.920\naffect my life\n\n517\n00:22:46.920 --> 00:22:50.200\nin a very traumatic way and that is, you'll laugh.\n\n518\n00:22:50.200 --> 00:22:56.380\nWhen I was in seventh grade, there were no sports for girls at my junior school\n\n519\n00:22:56.380 --> 00:22:56.400\n.\n\n520\n00:22:56.400 --> 00:22:59.040\nThe only sport that was offered was cheerleading.\n\n521\n00:22:59.040 --> 00:23:03.590\nSo because that was the only offering, I tried out, I thought I did a really\n\n522\n00:23:03.590 --> 00:23:04.280\ngood job with\n\n523\n00:23:04.280 --> 00:23:07.740\nmy cheer, which I practiced a hundred times in front of my bedroom mirror, and\n\n524\n00:23:07.740 --> 00:23:08.520\nI did not\n\n525\n00:23:08.520 --> 00:23:10.640\nmake the cheerleading squad.\n\n526\n00:23:10.640 --> 00:23:11.640\nI got cut.\n\n527\n00:23:11.640 --> 00:23:14.080\nThe only team in the world you didn't make.\n\n528\n00:23:14.080 --> 00:23:15.800\nYeah, and I was like kind of an athlete.\n\n529\n00:23:15.800 --> 00:23:18.160\nI was sort of a, you know, what we call tomboys back then.\n\n530\n00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:20.840\nI thought of myself as a, you know, when I went to high school a few years\n\n531\n00:23:20.840 --> 00:23:21.360\nlater, I\n\n532\n00:23:21.360 --> 00:23:25.990\ngot to play sports because title nine had been passed by then and things opened\n\n533\n00:23:25.990 --> 00:23:26.440\nup.\n\n534\n00:23:26.440 --> 00:23:29.540\nBut I got cut from cheerleading in seventh grade and that was, you're seeing my\n\n535\n00:23:29.540 --> 00:23:29.840\nface\n\n536\n00:23:29.840 --> 00:23:30.840\nhere.\n\n537\n00:23:30.840 --> 00:23:32.320\nI mean, I just, I couldn't believe it.\n\n538\n00:23:32.320 --> 00:23:36.070\nSo that one, I guess the leader lesson there was it just made me really\n\n539\n00:23:36.070 --> 00:23:36.880\ndetermined not\n\n540\n00:23:36.880 --> 00:23:39.360\nto have that happen again.\n\n541\n00:23:39.360 --> 00:23:43.920\nI guess, you know, it really did help frame my mindset about, you know, being a\n\n542\n00:23:43.920 --> 00:23:44.440\ngirl,\n\n543\n00:23:44.440 --> 00:23:47.520\nhow come that was the only sport I got to try out for?\n\n544\n00:23:47.520 --> 00:23:51.780\nAnd then sort of what that's translated into my career and trying to help women\n\n545\n00:23:51.780 --> 00:23:52.120\ngenerally\n\n546\n00:23:52.120 --> 00:23:56.480\nin terms of continued opportunities to play the sports of their dreams.\n\n547\n00:23:56.480 --> 00:24:00.680\nYou know, you, as I understand it, you were a lawyer or our lawyer.\n\n548\n00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:03.480\nYou've worked in the financial area for a while.\n\n549\n00:24:03.480 --> 00:24:08.840\nAnd I was surprised that years later you were named the co-marketer of the year\n\n550\n00:24:08.840 --> 00:24:09.560\nby brand\n\n551\n00:24:09.560 --> 00:24:10.560\nweek.\n\n552\n00:24:10.560 --> 00:24:14.680\nHow did you develop the marketing skill set?\n\n553\n00:24:14.680 --> 00:24:18.080\nOn the job, number one, I did not go to business school.\n\n554\n00:24:18.080 --> 00:24:19.080\nThat's a regret.\n\n555\n00:24:19.080 --> 00:24:20.240\nI did get a law degree.\n\n556\n00:24:20.240 --> 00:24:22.720\nShe noted, I wish I'd gotten an MBA.\n\n557\n00:24:22.720 --> 00:24:24.520\nI had a chance to go back and do it.\n\n558\n00:24:24.520 --> 00:24:26.440\nI just kind of was moving on.\n\n559\n00:24:26.440 --> 00:24:29.550\nSo a lot of what I know about marketing was really just sort of picking it up\n\n560\n00:24:29.550 --> 00:24:30.920\non the job\n\n561\n00:24:30.920 --> 00:24:35.820\nthrough my boss, David Stern, my dear friend, Rick Wells, who was to your point\n\n562\n00:24:35.820 --> 00:24:36.960\n, the co-marketer\n\n563\n00:24:36.960 --> 00:24:37.960\nof the year.\n\n564\n00:24:37.960 --> 00:24:41.630\nAnd quite honestly, I think they sort of split it because when the WNBA\n\n565\n00:24:41.630 --> 00:24:42.680\nlaunched, Rick was\n\n566\n00:24:42.680 --> 00:24:46.800\nreally the brains behind MBA marketing at that time.\n\n567\n00:24:46.800 --> 00:24:50.800\nHe was the head of MBA properties, critically, critically involved in the\n\n568\n00:24:50.800 --> 00:24:52.960\nlaunch of the WNBA,\n\n569\n00:24:52.960 --> 00:24:57.780\nthe interface on our branding, on our sponsorship sales, on our licensing\n\n570\n00:24:57.780 --> 00:24:58.360\nprogram.\n\n571\n00:24:58.360 --> 00:25:01.440\nWe name it, sort of all the visuals, Rick had a hand in that.\n\n572\n00:25:01.440 --> 00:25:05.850\nAnd then I was sort of the operations person, working on kind of the basketball\n\n573\n00:25:05.850 --> 00:25:06.360\nside of\n\n574\n00:25:06.360 --> 00:25:10.560\nthings, the scheduling, the officiating player acquisition, working with our\n\n575\n00:25:10.560 --> 00:25:11.720\nteams on a host\n\n576\n00:25:11.720 --> 00:25:12.920\nof areas.\n\n577\n00:25:12.920 --> 00:25:16.340\nAnd so I think that was kind of the way that they were rewarding us both for\n\n578\n00:25:16.340 --> 00:25:17.200\nour respective\n\n579\n00:25:17.200 --> 00:25:20.080\nroles in the launch of the league.\n\n580\n00:25:20.080 --> 00:25:23.280\nOf course, dozens and dozens of other people were vitally involved.\n\n581\n00:25:23.280 --> 00:25:26.360\nSo we represented an amazing group.\n\n582\n00:25:26.360 --> 00:25:30.150\nBut really, some of it with marketing is training, some of it is just what's in\n\n583\n00:25:30.150 --> 00:25:32.160\nyour gut.\n\n584\n00:25:32.160 --> 00:25:35.930\nAnd some of it is just learning and making mistakes along the way and hoping\n\n585\n00:25:35.930 --> 00:25:36.440\nsometimes\n\n586\n00:25:36.440 --> 00:25:39.760\nyou get things right in terms of how you're reaching your fans.\n\n587\n00:25:39.760 --> 00:25:43.290\nWhen you were launching the WNBA, what was the biggest learning you had on the\n\n588\n00:25:43.290 --> 00:25:43.880\nmarketing\n\n589\n00:25:43.880 --> 00:25:45.800\nfront when you look back?\n\n590\n00:25:45.800 --> 00:25:49.820\nWell, I'll tell you, A learning, when we launched the league, we had a vision\n\n591\n00:25:49.820 --> 00:25:50.720\nabout the target\n\n592\n00:25:50.720 --> 00:25:52.000\naudience.\n\n593\n00:25:52.000 --> 00:25:55.720\nWe expected hope we would track women as fans.\n\n594\n00:25:55.720 --> 00:26:00.090\nWe hoped we would attract kids, boys and girls, who we thought would look up to\n\n595\n00:26:00.090 --> 00:26:00.800\nthe players\n\n596\n00:26:00.800 --> 00:26:04.520\nas role models and want to bring mom and dad to the game and so on.\n\n597\n00:26:04.520 --> 00:26:08.370\nAnd the third bucket was that we would attract men's basketball fans because we\n\n598\n00:26:08.370 --> 00:26:09.000\nwere playing\n\n599\n00:26:09.000 --> 00:26:10.000\nin the summer.\n\n600\n00:26:10.000 --> 00:26:13.720\nThat was one of the reasons for the summer season, which continues to this day\n\n601\n00:26:13.720 --> 00:26:14.000\nbecause\n\n602\n00:26:14.000 --> 00:26:16.080\nwe would be the only game in town.\n\n603\n00:26:16.080 --> 00:26:19.720\nNBA's out, college basketball's dark, here we were.\n\n604\n00:26:19.720 --> 00:26:23.480\nAnd what was interesting was we did not attract that men's basketball fan in\n\n605\n00:26:23.480 --> 00:26:24.000\nthe ways that\n\n606\n00:26:24.000 --> 00:26:25.000\nwe expected.\n\n607\n00:26:25.000 --> 00:26:28.890\nWe thought there would be a crossover between the NBA and the WNBA season\n\n608\n00:26:28.890 --> 00:26:29.800\nticket base, for\n\n609\n00:26:29.800 --> 00:26:32.360\nexample, and that didn't happen.\n\n610\n00:26:32.360 --> 00:26:34.080\nAnd so that was a learn.\n\n611\n00:26:34.080 --> 00:26:37.200\nThat was a kind of a lesson, an interesting one.\n\n612\n00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:40.440\nIt really proved to be a different demographic.\n\n613\n00:26:40.440 --> 00:26:45.380\nI think now there's more mainstream support for women's basketball than we had\n\n614\n00:26:45.380 --> 00:26:46.000\nhoped for\n\n615\n00:26:46.000 --> 00:26:47.800\n25 years ago.\n\n616\n00:26:47.800 --> 00:26:51.820\nAs more men's basketball fans, I think take appreciation in the quality of play\n\n617\n00:26:51.820 --> 00:26:52.240\nand the\n\n618\n00:26:52.240 --> 00:26:55.400\nskill level of the players today.\n\n619\n00:26:55.400 --> 00:26:58.880\nWe had a little bit of that then, but not as much as we expected.\n\n620\n00:26:58.880 --> 00:27:02.370\nSo I would say if there was a surprise based on sort of what we projected, that\n\n621\n00:27:02.370 --> 00:27:02.800\nwould be\n\n622\n00:27:02.800 --> 00:27:04.880\nthe main thing I would know.\n\n623\n00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:08.610\nNow, you worked your way up in the NBA, which is an industry where I could\n\n624\n00:27:08.610 --> 00:27:09.320\nimagine you were\n\n625\n00:27:09.320 --> 00:27:11.800\nsurrounded mainly by men.\n\n626\n00:27:11.800 --> 00:27:14.400\nHow did you differentiate yourself?\n\n627\n00:27:14.400 --> 00:27:16.480\nYour supposition is correct.\n\n628\n00:27:16.480 --> 00:27:19.280\nIt was very male dominated.\n\n629\n00:27:19.280 --> 00:27:23.280\nNot many women when I started, no women to look up to when I started.\n\n630\n00:27:23.280 --> 00:27:25.360\nThere weren't any senior women at the league.\n\n631\n00:27:25.360 --> 00:27:27.200\nThere were a couple on teams.\n\n632\n00:27:27.200 --> 00:27:28.440\nJeannie Bus was one.\n\n633\n00:27:28.440 --> 00:27:29.920\nHer dad owned the Lakers.\n\n634\n00:27:29.920 --> 00:27:30.920\nShe owns it now.\n\n635\n00:27:30.920 --> 00:27:35.750\nSusan O'Malley ran the Washington then Bullets Now Wizards was another woman\n\n636\n00:27:35.750 --> 00:27:36.440\nthat I got to\n\n637\n00:27:36.440 --> 00:27:37.880\nknow and look up to.\n\n638\n00:27:37.880 --> 00:27:40.920\nBut other than that, it was, that was it.\n\n639\n00:27:40.920 --> 00:27:43.040\nI mean, I just worked my butt off, frankly.\n\n640\n00:27:43.040 --> 00:27:46.240\nI mean, that's, I would give that advice to anybody wondering how you get to\n\n641\n00:27:46.240 --> 00:27:46.680\nthe top.\n\n642\n00:27:46.680 --> 00:27:50.960\nJust work hard, be good at what you do, understand what your boss is want.\n\n643\n00:27:50.960 --> 00:27:53.590\nI'm trying to give them something they don't want, try to figure out what they\n\n644\n00:27:53.590 --> 00:27:54.000\nwant, what\n\n645\n00:27:54.000 --> 00:27:55.000\nthey're looking for.\n\n646\n00:27:55.000 --> 00:27:58.360\nYou know, if you make a mistake, admit it, try to fix it.\n\n647\n00:27:58.360 --> 00:28:00.720\nHope it didn't cost anybody a lot of money.\n\n648\n00:28:00.720 --> 00:28:05.120\nI certainly made mistakes and I don't think I made any that cost a lot of money\n\n649\n00:28:05.120 --> 00:28:05.320\n.\n\n650\n00:28:05.320 --> 00:28:07.080\nSome were embarrassing.\n\n651\n00:28:07.080 --> 00:28:09.880\nAnd you know, you really kind of learn to be you.\n\n652\n00:28:09.880 --> 00:28:16.500\nI mean, I think part of being a good leader is being authentic, not trying to\n\n653\n00:28:16.500 --> 00:28:17.560\nbe too imitative\n\n654\n00:28:17.560 --> 00:28:19.280\nof somebody else.\n\n655\n00:28:19.280 --> 00:28:23.590\nI've learned from every leader I've worked for, taken little bits away from\n\n656\n00:28:23.590 --> 00:28:24.200\neach one.\n\n657\n00:28:24.200 --> 00:28:26.040\nBut at the end of the day, I can't be them.\n\n658\n00:28:26.040 --> 00:28:28.960\nI can't assume their personalities.\n\n659\n00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:34.240\nAnd so, you know, I think for me, I like to think I've got a style that works\n\n660\n00:28:34.240 --> 00:28:34.960\nwell.\n\n661\n00:28:34.960 --> 00:28:36.800\nI try to be friendly to people.\n\n662\n00:28:36.800 --> 00:28:38.560\nI'm very respectful of others.\n\n663\n00:28:38.560 --> 00:28:42.920\nI believe deeply in gratitude, telling people, \"Thank you,\" when they've done\n\n664\n00:28:42.920 --> 00:28:43.800\nsomething that\n\n665\n00:28:43.800 --> 00:28:46.880\nhelps me or that helps others.\n\n666\n00:28:46.880 --> 00:28:50.850\nI don't think there's one thing, but I hope, David, those kinds of traits,\n\n667\n00:28:50.850 --> 00:28:51.680\nattributes,\n\n668\n00:28:51.680 --> 00:28:56.330\nbehaviors, you know, have helped set me apart and helped get me to where I am\n\n669\n00:28:56.330 --> 00:28:57.040\ntoday.\n\n670\n00:28:57.040 --> 00:28:59.720\nAnd hopefully, I can be a good role model for others who are, you know, going\n\n671\n00:28:59.720 --> 00:29:00.160\nto follow\n\n672\n00:29:00.160 --> 00:29:01.360\nme in the years to come.\n\n673\n00:29:01.360 --> 00:29:03.160\nWell, you're known for that for sure.\n\n674\n00:29:03.160 --> 00:29:06.750\nAnd you got the nod to become the founding president of the Women's National\n\n675\n00:29:06.750 --> 00:29:07.400\nBasketball\n\n676\n00:29:07.400 --> 00:29:08.400\nAssociation.\n\n677\n00:29:08.400 --> 00:29:13.760\nAnd making you the first woman to ever launch and operate a sports league.\n\n678\n00:29:13.760 --> 00:29:18.120\nDid being the first to do something like that put more pressure on you?\n\n679\n00:29:18.120 --> 00:29:21.890\nI mean, what's it like being the first to do something like that where you're\n\n680\n00:29:21.890 --> 00:29:22.320\nreally\n\n681\n00:29:22.320 --> 00:29:24.280\nbreaking some major ground?\n\n682\n00:29:24.280 --> 00:29:26.960\nYou know, at the time I wasn't thinking about that.\n\n683\n00:29:26.960 --> 00:29:28.400\nI mean, there was enough pressure.\n\n684\n00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:30.840\nYou know, I didn't need to add to it that, \"Hey, I'm a woman here.\"\n\n685\n00:29:30.840 --> 00:29:38.120\nI mean, there was enough pressure because the NBA had made the WNBA a priority.\n\n686\n00:29:38.120 --> 00:29:42.600\nIt could not fail with everything that David Stern and Russ Granik, our deputy\n\n687\n00:29:42.600 --> 00:29:43.440\ncommissioner\n\n688\n00:29:43.440 --> 00:29:48.690\nand Rick I talked to and others and the owners, the NBA owners at that time,\n\n689\n00:29:48.690 --> 00:29:49.520\ngave David the\n\n690\n00:29:49.520 --> 00:29:52.280\ngreen light to do this.\n\n691\n00:29:52.280 --> 00:29:54.120\nSo it had to be great.\n\n692\n00:29:54.120 --> 00:29:55.920\nYou know, the stakes were high.\n\n693\n00:29:55.920 --> 00:29:56.920\nThat was the pressure.\n\n694\n00:29:56.920 --> 00:29:57.920\nIt was okay.\n\n695\n00:29:57.920 --> 00:29:58.920\nHow do I not flood this?\n\n696\n00:29:58.920 --> 00:30:00.120\nHow do I do my part?\n\n697\n00:30:00.120 --> 00:30:02.960\nBecause again, it was a group effort of the highest order.\n\n698\n00:30:02.960 --> 00:30:05.560\nHow do I not let my teammates down?\n\n699\n00:30:05.560 --> 00:30:09.800\nYou know, how do I represent the league in the best possible manner?\n\n700\n00:30:09.800 --> 00:30:10.800\nBecause I was out there.\n\n701\n00:30:10.800 --> 00:30:11.800\nThey put me out there.\n\n702\n00:30:11.800 --> 00:30:15.640\nI was the one doing speaking engagements and doing media interviews.\n\n703\n00:30:15.640 --> 00:30:20.700\nAnd I just took very seriously this trust that had been given to me and this\n\n704\n00:30:20.700 --> 00:30:21.720\nsacred trust\n\n705\n00:30:21.720 --> 00:30:23.440\nthat I've been handed.\n\n706\n00:30:23.440 --> 00:30:27.170\nAnd so I think that was really what I was most on my mind in the first couple\n\n707\n00:30:27.170 --> 00:30:27.920\nof years.\n\n708\n00:30:27.920 --> 00:30:31.020\nAnd then, yeah, you know, yeah, I mean, it was obvious it was, you know, the\n\n709\n00:30:31.020 --> 00:30:31.960\nwomen, I\n\n710\n00:30:31.960 --> 00:30:35.800\nmean, that was a sort of a surprise that I was able to sort of break through.\n\n711\n00:30:35.800 --> 00:30:39.540\nAnd now the good news is there's so many more women who are at a senior level\n\n712\n00:30:39.540 --> 00:30:40.160\nin sports\n\n713\n00:30:40.160 --> 00:30:41.800\nand many more will follow, I know.\n\n714\n00:30:41.800 --> 00:30:46.280\nSo that's the part I feel really gratified about that I was the first, but I'm\n\n715\n00:30:46.280 --> 00:30:46.640\nnot going\n\n716\n00:30:46.640 --> 00:30:48.280\nto be the last.\n\n717\n00:30:48.280 --> 00:30:54.040\nYou know, the legendary David Sturney had the original idea for the WNBA and\n\n718\n00:30:54.040 --> 00:30:54.920\nyou helped\n\n719\n00:30:54.920 --> 00:30:57.440\nshape it and execute it.\n\n720\n00:30:57.440 --> 00:31:02.800\nWhat advice can you give leaders on being a great right hand to a visionary\n\n721\n00:31:02.800 --> 00:31:03.720\nleader like\n\n722\n00:31:03.720 --> 00:31:05.200\nhim?\n\n723\n00:31:05.200 --> 00:31:09.560\nYou know, get a good night's sleep night before be ready for anything.\n\n724\n00:31:09.560 --> 00:31:13.820\nPart of one of my jobs at the league was to be David's, his assistant and I\n\n725\n00:31:13.820 --> 00:31:14.520\nwould sit\n\n726\n00:31:14.520 --> 00:31:16.080\nin his office as he was on calls.\n\n727\n00:31:16.080 --> 00:31:20.900\nI really, I learned so much about what it means to be a commissioner and not\n\n728\n00:31:20.900 --> 00:31:21.440\njust the\n\n729\n00:31:21.440 --> 00:31:26.230\nthings that the public sees, you know, the handing out of the trophies or, you\n\n730\n00:31:26.230 --> 00:31:26.680\nknow,\n\n731\n00:31:26.680 --> 00:31:28.320\nthe interviews that you see on television.\n\n732\n00:31:28.320 --> 00:31:31.680\nIt was really what goes on, you know, in someone's office or what happens when\n\n733\n00:31:31.680 --> 00:31:31.800\nthey're\n\n734\n00:31:31.800 --> 00:31:35.680\non the phone or how they're dealing with a particular matter.\n\n735\n00:31:35.680 --> 00:31:38.560\nAnd I just, I feel, you know, so fortunate that I had the chance to learn from\n\n736\n00:31:38.560 --> 00:31:39.600\nthe best,\n\n737\n00:31:39.600 --> 00:31:43.720\nyou know, he was, he was the dean of commissioners and, you know, may he rest\n\n738\n00:31:43.720 --> 00:31:44.440\nin peace.\n\n739\n00:31:44.440 --> 00:31:47.990\nWe've lost him, we lost him four years ago, beginning of COVID right before the\n\n740\n00:31:47.990 --> 00:31:48.560\nbeginning\n\n741\n00:31:48.560 --> 00:31:49.560\nof COVID.\n\n742\n00:31:49.560 --> 00:31:52.920\nThe loss is still deeply felt by many of us.\n\n743\n00:31:52.920 --> 00:31:56.350\nThe things he taught us, you know, and I didn't always agree with the way he\n\n744\n00:31:56.350 --> 00:31:57.160\ndid things.\n\n745\n00:31:57.160 --> 00:32:00.520\nHe had a style very different from mine.\n\n746\n00:32:00.520 --> 00:32:04.160\nYou know, I learned a lot from the way he attacked a problem.\n\n747\n00:32:04.160 --> 00:32:08.270\nHe was a lawyer and he had a whole, you know, lawyer's mentality about how to\n\n748\n00:32:08.270 --> 00:32:09.120\ndo stuff and\n\n749\n00:32:09.120 --> 00:32:14.110\nhow to use precedent and ask a million questions before you made a decision on\n\n750\n00:32:14.110 --> 00:32:15.160\nsomething.\n\n751\n00:32:15.160 --> 00:32:17.520\nAnd that those are all lessons that served me in good stead.\n\n752\n00:32:17.520 --> 00:32:21.260\nAnd, you know, I very much keep as part of my sort of internal creed to this\n\n753\n00:32:21.260 --> 00:32:21.760\nday.\n\n754\n00:32:21.760 --> 00:32:26.540\nBill, how do you think about innovation for the product that you're selling,\n\n755\n00:32:26.540 --> 00:32:27.120\nwhether\n\n756\n00:32:27.120 --> 00:32:31.080\nit's the WNBA or the Big East Conference?\n\n757\n00:32:31.080 --> 00:32:33.880\nHow do you think about innovation itself?\n\n758\n00:32:33.880 --> 00:32:38.640\nWith the WNBA, which was a new league, it was very easy to be innovated.\n\n759\n00:32:38.640 --> 00:32:42.800\nThat was the mindset, in fact, was because the NBA was behind it.\n\n760\n00:32:42.800 --> 00:32:46.210\nThe mantra was, let's just take everything the NBA's learned about how to run a\n\n761\n00:32:46.210 --> 00:32:46.680\npro-basket\n\n762\n00:32:46.680 --> 00:32:52.560\nball league over the last, you know, 40 years at that point.\n\n763\n00:32:52.560 --> 00:32:56.630\nAnd all the mistakes made and all the successes that were accomplished and then\n\n764\n00:32:56.630 --> 00:32:57.320\njust do it,\n\n765\n00:32:57.320 --> 00:32:59.400\nyou know, from scratch.\n\n766\n00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:03.340\nAs if the NBA, you know, had started anew and everything you learned could be\n\n767\n00:33:03.340 --> 00:33:04.040\nincorporated\n\n768\n00:33:04.040 --> 00:33:05.600\ninto the new model.\n\n769\n00:33:05.600 --> 00:33:06.600\nThat was a mindset.\n\n770\n00:33:06.600 --> 00:33:08.920\nIt was innovation all the way.\n\n771\n00:33:08.920 --> 00:33:13.730\nBut also relying on, you know, things that had happened successfully in prior\n\n772\n00:33:13.730 --> 00:33:14.280\nyears.\n\n773\n00:33:14.280 --> 00:33:18.150\nThe Big East, a little bit of that too, but it just more, you're more confined,\n\n774\n00:33:18.150 --> 00:33:18.680\nI think,\n\n775\n00:33:18.680 --> 00:33:23.000\nin the college space because of NCA restrictions or other factors.\n\n776\n00:33:23.000 --> 00:33:27.230\nYou don't have the budget and the Big East that the NBA would have to be really\n\n777\n00:33:27.230 --> 00:33:28.200\ninnovative,\n\n778\n00:33:28.200 --> 00:33:29.920\nwhich I had their budget.\n\n779\n00:33:29.920 --> 00:33:33.860\nSo it's a little bit harder, but we have, I have tried to create new\n\n780\n00:33:33.860 --> 00:33:34.840\ninitiatives.\n\n781\n00:33:34.840 --> 00:33:39.460\nAnd we've done that in the Big East around mental health, critical issue today\n\n782\n00:33:39.460 --> 00:33:39.920\naround\n\n783\n00:33:39.920 --> 00:33:44.600\ndiversity, equity inclusion, which we're leaning deeply into will continue to\n\n784\n00:33:44.600 --> 00:33:45.360\ndo that around\n\n785\n00:33:45.360 --> 00:33:47.160\nprogramming for our student athletes.\n\n786\n00:33:47.160 --> 00:33:49.960\nWe have programs and men's and women's basketball directors.\n\n787\n00:33:49.960 --> 00:33:54.400\nThe athletes are kind of like personal development programs.\n\n788\n00:33:54.400 --> 00:33:58.220\nWe've done some innovative things on television together with Fox that have not\n\n789\n00:33:58.220 --> 00:33:58.720\nbeen done\n\n790\n00:33:58.720 --> 00:34:01.760\nby other leagues or other networks.\n\n791\n00:34:01.760 --> 00:34:05.020\nIf there is a way to do it, we, you know, my attitude to my staff is come to me\n\n792\n00:34:05.020 --> 00:34:05.400\nwith\n\n793\n00:34:05.400 --> 00:34:06.400\na good idea.\n\n794\n00:34:06.400 --> 00:34:08.800\nAnd if we can pay for it, let's try it.\n\n795\n00:34:08.800 --> 00:34:10.680\nAnd it has been in Dave, that was David's mindset.\n\n796\n00:34:10.680 --> 00:34:12.880\nSo I got that from him.\n\n797\n00:34:12.880 --> 00:34:18.160\nBut I do think it's important to have the mix of traditional, tried and true.\n\n798\n00:34:18.160 --> 00:34:21.000\nHere's what you just, the normal job or whatever, things just no reason to\n\n799\n00:34:21.000 --> 00:34:22.200\nchange them and then\n\n800\n00:34:22.200 --> 00:34:24.680\nbeing adaptive as much as you can.\n\n801\n00:34:24.680 --> 00:34:29.180\nAs you think about your team and just the shadow that you cast, you mentioned\n\n802\n00:34:29.180 --> 00:34:29.920\nyour style\n\n803\n00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:35.480\nwas different than David Stern's fantastic leader, your fantastic leader.\n\n804\n00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:40.910\nWhat's the main thing that you're focused on in terms of culture and how do you\n\n805\n00:34:40.910 --> 00:34:41.440\ndrive\n\n806\n00:34:41.440 --> 00:34:42.440\nthat deep?\n\n807\n00:34:42.440 --> 00:34:46.120\nI believe people when they come to work, they want meaning.\n\n808\n00:34:46.120 --> 00:34:50.430\nThey want to know that they're part of something that's special and important\n\n809\n00:34:50.430 --> 00:34:51.400\nand they're making\n\n810\n00:34:51.400 --> 00:34:53.040\na contribution.\n\n811\n00:34:53.040 --> 00:34:54.960\nThat's certainly how I felt at the NBA.\n\n812\n00:34:54.960 --> 00:34:59.080\nI mean, you know, if you love sports and love basketball, there was no better\n\n813\n00:34:59.080 --> 00:34:59.440\njob than\n\n814\n00:34:59.440 --> 00:35:00.640\nworking at the league.\n\n815\n00:35:00.640 --> 00:35:03.240\nYou know, David was a tremendous leader.\n\n816\n00:35:03.240 --> 00:35:11.620\nHe always trusted him to make hard calls and the league grew phenomenally under\n\n817\n00:35:11.620 --> 00:35:12.360\nhis watch.\n\n818\n00:35:12.360 --> 00:35:16.000\nAnd so you just felt energized, you know, every day going to the office because\n\n819\n00:35:16.000 --> 00:35:16.760\nyou knew that\n\n820\n00:35:16.760 --> 00:35:20.060\nthe brand was respected and people, you know, you go to cocktail parties and\n\n821\n00:35:20.060 --> 00:35:20.720\npeople would\n\n822\n00:35:20.720 --> 00:35:23.760\nsay, \"Oh, wow, you know, you work for the NBA.\"\n\n823\n00:35:23.760 --> 00:35:25.560\nAnd so that's kind of how I feel about the big yeast.\n\n824\n00:35:25.560 --> 00:35:28.160\nI mean, I feel like, I used the word sacred trust before.\n\n825\n00:35:28.160 --> 00:35:30.440\nI feel like I've got a sacred trust here.\n\n826\n00:35:30.440 --> 00:35:34.520\nThis is one of the most venerable brands in college basketball.\n\n827\n00:35:34.520 --> 00:35:37.970\nYou know, some days wake up, I can't believe I'm 10 years later, I'm running\n\n828\n00:35:37.970 --> 00:35:38.480\nthis league\n\n829\n00:35:38.480 --> 00:35:44.480\nthat Dave Gavitt found that I knew Dave, another one of my idols.\n\n830\n00:35:44.480 --> 00:35:48.600\nAnd you know, I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to not flood this.\n\n831\n00:35:48.600 --> 00:35:52.350\nAnd the good news is, you know, I've got a great staff who also, I believe,\n\n832\n00:35:52.350 --> 00:35:52.920\ncare deeply\n\n833\n00:35:52.920 --> 00:35:55.080\nabout the league.\n\n834\n00:35:55.080 --> 00:35:59.780\nI want to keep the brand relevant, you know, know what we're doing to help our\n\n835\n00:35:59.780 --> 00:36:00.480\nathletes\n\n836\n00:36:00.480 --> 00:36:02.640\nbecause they're the future.\n\n837\n00:36:02.640 --> 00:36:06.690\nAnd so it hasn't been super hard, I don't think, to imbue with our work a sense\n\n838\n00:36:06.690 --> 00:36:07.320\nof meaning\n\n839\n00:36:07.320 --> 00:36:08.400\nand purpose.\n\n840\n00:36:08.400 --> 00:36:11.810\nBut as it relates to culture, I mean, I'm just, you know, try to hire people\n\n841\n00:36:11.810 --> 00:36:12.320\nwho I think\n\n842\n00:36:12.320 --> 00:36:18.040\nare good people who care about being good teammates, who work well together,\n\n843\n00:36:18.040 --> 00:36:18.800\npick each\n\n844\n00:36:18.800 --> 00:36:19.800\nother up.\n\n845\n00:36:19.800 --> 00:36:23.200\nYou know, we have events where everybody's, it's all hands on deck.\n\n846\n00:36:23.200 --> 00:36:27.080\nSo there's a premium on teamwork and camaraderie.\n\n847\n00:36:27.080 --> 00:36:30.060\nAnd you know, making sure my staff knows how much I appreciate them each and\n\n848\n00:36:30.060 --> 00:36:31.080\nevery day,\n\n849\n00:36:31.080 --> 00:36:35.160\nbecause I certainly couldn't do what I do if they didn't do what they do.\n\n850\n00:36:35.160 --> 00:36:42.200\nSo it's a little bit of all of that.\n\n851\n00:36:42.200 --> 00:36:46.540\nWe'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Val Ackerman in just a\n\n852\n00:36:46.540 --> 00:36:46.840\nmoment.\n\n853\n00:36:46.840 --> 00:36:50.510\nAnother fantastic leader in the world of basketball is Steve Kerr, the head\n\n854\n00:36:50.510 --> 00:36:51.080\ncoach of\n\n855\n00:36:51.080 --> 00:36:53.240\nthe Golden State Warriors.\n\n856\n00:36:53.240 --> 00:36:57.330\nJust like Val, he's the kind of leader who's willing to embody the values he\n\n857\n00:36:57.330 --> 00:36:58.040\nwants to see\n\n858\n00:36:58.040 --> 00:36:59.640\non his team.\n\n859\n00:36:59.640 --> 00:37:05.120\nIn fact, as he told me, that's key if you want to actually hold those standards\n\n860\n00:37:05.120 --> 00:37:05.320\nup\n\n861\n00:37:05.320 --> 00:37:07.760\nfor everyone else to follow.\n\n862\n00:37:07.760 --> 00:37:12.370\nIt would be hard to throw it in their face on day one and say, \"These are our\n\n863\n00:37:12.370 --> 00:37:13.320\nvalues.\"\n\n864\n00:37:13.320 --> 00:37:17.890\nWhat I did our first year was I tried to embody our values each day with my\n\n865\n00:37:17.890 --> 00:37:18.880\ninteraction\n\n866\n00:37:18.880 --> 00:37:22.080\nwith the players, with the staff's interaction with the players.\n\n867\n00:37:22.080 --> 00:37:26.770\nOur other values, by the way, besides joy were competitiveness, mindfulness and\n\n868\n00:37:26.770 --> 00:37:27.680\ncompassion.\n\n869\n00:37:27.680 --> 00:37:31.800\nThose values are all based on me personally, what makes me tick as a human\n\n870\n00:37:31.800 --> 00:37:32.440\nbeing.\n\n871\n00:37:32.440 --> 00:37:35.870\nAnd since I'm the leader of the team, those values have to really come alive as\n\n872\n00:37:35.870 --> 00:37:36.520\nPete Carroll\n\n873\n00:37:36.520 --> 00:37:37.520\ntalked about.\n\n874\n00:37:37.520 --> 00:37:41.120\nAnd so I tried to be really compassionate with the team right away.\n\n875\n00:37:41.120 --> 00:37:45.360\nI tried to be very competitive in terms of putting together drills and keeping\n\n876\n00:37:45.360 --> 00:37:46.000\nscore and\n\n877\n00:37:46.000 --> 00:37:50.440\nconstantly pitting the team against one another in drills and scrimmages.\n\n878\n00:37:50.440 --> 00:37:53.280\nAnd then we tried to have as much fun as possible.\n\n879\n00:37:53.280 --> 00:37:54.920\nWe played music during practice.\n\n880\n00:37:54.920 --> 00:37:56.400\nWe showed funny videos.\n\n881\n00:37:56.400 --> 00:37:58.520\nWe celebrated guys' birthdays.\n\n882\n00:37:58.520 --> 00:38:00.800\nWe celebrated the birth of children.\n\n883\n00:38:00.800 --> 00:38:05.160\nWe invited family members on the team plane so that they could travel with us.\n\n884\n00:38:05.160 --> 00:38:10.120\nWe tried to incorporate everything that embodied our values.\n\n885\n00:38:10.120 --> 00:38:14.610\nAnd then I think maybe a couple of months in, we sat down one day and I wrote\n\n886\n00:38:14.610 --> 00:38:15.200\nall those\n\n887\n00:38:15.200 --> 00:38:18.120\nvalues on the board and said, \"This is what we're about.\n\n888\n00:38:18.120 --> 00:38:23.070\nAnd this is what you guys need to enhance and grow every single day for us to\n\n889\n00:38:23.070 --> 00:38:23.600\nbecome\n\n890\n00:38:23.600 --> 00:38:24.600\nspecial.\"\n\n891\n00:38:24.600 --> 00:38:31.190\nGo back and listen to my entire conversation with Steve Kerr, episode 62, here\n\n892\n00:38:31.190 --> 00:38:31.960\non How Leaders\n\n893\n00:38:31.960 --> 00:38:33.040\nLead.\n\n894\n00:38:33.040 --> 00:38:43.240\nThere's no question you're a real trailblazer.\n\n895\n00:38:43.240 --> 00:38:45.800\nBut only did you help start the WNBA.\n\n896\n00:38:45.800 --> 00:38:48.560\nYou also created the US national women's team.\n\n897\n00:38:48.560 --> 00:38:52.880\nThey won gold medals at the '96 Olympics.\n\n898\n00:38:52.880 --> 00:38:57.600\nWhat you've done for women's basketball is absolutely remarkable.\n\n899\n00:38:57.600 --> 00:39:02.290\nBecause of your leadership, what's something that you hope more women will come\n\n900\n00:39:02.290 --> 00:39:03.280\nto believe?\n\n901\n00:39:03.280 --> 00:39:04.960\nThat they can do this to.\n\n902\n00:39:04.960 --> 00:39:06.400\nYou hear this expression.\n\n903\n00:39:06.400 --> 00:39:07.720\nIf you can see it, you can be it.\n\n904\n00:39:07.720 --> 00:39:14.230\nI really think having more women in leadership positions in sports reinforces\n\n905\n00:39:14.230 --> 00:39:14.800\nthat that could\n\n906\n00:39:14.800 --> 00:39:16.440\nbe me.\n\n907\n00:39:16.440 --> 00:39:18.440\nThat's my goal, career goal.\n\n908\n00:39:18.440 --> 00:39:21.680\nI'd like to be able to make an impact too.\n\n909\n00:39:21.680 --> 00:39:25.040\nAnd I think the more women we have at the top, the more likely we will continue\n\n910\n00:39:25.040 --> 00:39:25.440\nto have\n\n911\n00:39:25.440 --> 00:39:27.920\nwomen at the top and more of them.\n\n912\n00:39:27.920 --> 00:39:31.930\nI tell women and men, frankly, all the time, it's not easy to get these jobs\n\n913\n00:39:31.930 --> 00:39:32.520\nand to do\n\n914\n00:39:32.520 --> 00:39:33.520\nwell in these jobs.\n\n915\n00:39:33.520 --> 00:39:34.520\nI mean, don't get me wrong.\n\n916\n00:39:34.520 --> 00:39:36.320\nI mean, it's a lot of work.\n\n917\n00:39:36.320 --> 00:39:37.680\nYou got to be really good at what you do.\n\n918\n00:39:37.680 --> 00:39:41.160\nYou got to manage politics and relationship management and all that.\n\n919\n00:39:41.160 --> 00:39:43.280\nYou got to have a lot of stamina.\n\n920\n00:39:43.280 --> 00:39:48.650\nYou have to have thick skin some days because things aren't always going to go\n\n921\n00:39:48.650 --> 00:39:49.160\nright.\n\n922\n00:39:49.160 --> 00:39:50.920\nIt's a marathon that has sprinted some ways.\n\n923\n00:39:50.920 --> 00:39:56.080\nI've been at this for 35 years.\n\n924\n00:39:56.080 --> 00:39:58.520\nSome days are just like, \"Oh, wow.\n\n925\n00:39:58.520 --> 00:39:59.520\nOkay.\"\n\n926\n00:39:59.520 --> 00:40:02.080\nBut again, I might seem to care about our league.\n\n927\n00:40:02.080 --> 00:40:03.600\nIt's special.\n\n928\n00:40:03.600 --> 00:40:08.120\nWe have good collaboration top to bottom.\n\n929\n00:40:08.120 --> 00:40:10.040\nBut back to women, I think that's it.\n\n930\n00:40:10.040 --> 00:40:14.950\nIf I can be a little bit of an inspiration to somebody who might take my job in\n\n931\n00:40:14.950 --> 00:40:15.320\nfive\n\n932\n00:40:15.320 --> 00:40:18.800\nyears or 10 years or 20 years, then I will have succeeded.\n\n933\n00:40:18.800 --> 00:40:22.230\nIf there's anybody that could really talk about building a winning team, I\n\n934\n00:40:22.230 --> 00:40:22.880\nwould imagine\n\n935\n00:40:22.880 --> 00:40:24.160\nit would have to be you.\n\n936\n00:40:24.160 --> 00:40:30.160\nWhat you did with the Olympics, what you've seen with the dream team, you've\n\n937\n00:40:30.160 --> 00:40:31.600\nseen it all.\n\n938\n00:40:31.600 --> 00:40:37.040\nWhat do you believe are the real keys to building a winning team?\n\n939\n00:40:37.040 --> 00:40:40.250\nUnderstanding what your organization needs when I had to take over the relaunch\n\n940\n00:40:40.250 --> 00:40:40.600\nof the\n\n941\n00:40:40.600 --> 00:40:42.960\nbig East, I had to learn fast.\n\n942\n00:40:42.960 --> 00:40:44.880\nLike, \"Okay, who do I hire?\n\n943\n00:40:44.880 --> 00:40:46.600\nWhat functions do we have?\n\n944\n00:40:46.600 --> 00:40:50.120\nWhat skill sets are needed for those roles?\"\n\n945\n00:40:50.120 --> 00:40:56.280\nAnd then just doing your best to match it up with people who are interested in\n\n946\n00:40:56.280 --> 00:40:56.920\ntaking\n\n947\n00:40:56.920 --> 00:40:58.440\nthat leap.\n\n948\n00:40:58.440 --> 00:40:59.440\nIt's a group effort.\n\n949\n00:40:59.440 --> 00:41:00.600\nIt is about a team.\n\n950\n00:41:00.600 --> 00:41:02.800\nIt's about hiring the right people.\n\n951\n00:41:02.800 --> 00:41:06.480\nIt's about giving them the direction they need to do their jobs, staying out of\n\n952\n00:41:06.480 --> 00:41:06.840\ntheir\n\n953\n00:41:06.840 --> 00:41:09.680\nway most of the time, assuming they've fired the right people.\n\n954\n00:41:09.680 --> 00:41:11.240\nYou can do that.\n\n955\n00:41:11.240 --> 00:41:16.730\nJumping in when you need to, making sure they understand the priorities of the\n\n956\n00:41:16.730 --> 00:41:16.960\norganization,\n\n957\n00:41:16.960 --> 00:41:19.680\nmaking sure that they're respectful to one another.\n\n958\n00:41:19.680 --> 00:41:22.880\nYou want to have the kind of workplace that people want to be part of.\n\n959\n00:41:22.880 --> 00:41:26.040\nAnd accepting, frankly, that sometimes people are going to move on.\n\n960\n00:41:26.040 --> 00:41:29.520\nI mean, I've had great staff members who've left.\n\n961\n00:41:29.520 --> 00:41:32.640\nThese cases for great jobs.\n\n962\n00:41:32.640 --> 00:41:35.760\nAnd you've got to cheer mom and that happens too.\n\n963\n00:41:35.760 --> 00:41:40.160\nYou've got to stay a friend and a mentor and a source of support.\n\n964\n00:41:40.160 --> 00:41:42.560\nAnd I've tried to do that as well in my career.\n\n965\n00:41:42.560 --> 00:41:45.320\nPeople have their own ideas about where they want to be and you just have to\n\n966\n00:41:45.320 --> 00:41:45.800\naccept that\n\n967\n00:41:45.800 --> 00:41:46.800\ntoo.\n\n968\n00:41:46.800 --> 00:41:51.050\nYou know, this has been so much fun, Val, and I want to have some more with my\n\n969\n00:41:51.050 --> 00:41:52.080\nrapid fire\n\n970\n00:41:52.080 --> 00:41:53.520\nquestions, my lightning round.\n\n971\n00:41:53.520 --> 00:41:54.520\nAre you ready for this?\n\n972\n00:41:54.520 --> 00:41:55.520\nOh, boy.\n\n973\n00:41:55.520 --> 00:41:56.520\nOkay.\n\n974\n00:41:56.520 --> 00:41:59.440\nI mean, three words that others would use to describe you.\n\n975\n00:41:59.440 --> 00:42:04.610\nI mean, I'm smiling with you, but people would probably call me intense,\n\n976\n00:42:04.610 --> 00:42:05.520\nserious.\n\n977\n00:42:05.520 --> 00:42:07.520\nI hope they would say compassionate.\n\n978\n00:42:07.520 --> 00:42:11.840\nIf you could be one person for a day beside yourself, who would it be?\n\n979\n00:42:11.840 --> 00:42:15.000\nBruce Springsteen's manager.\n\n980\n00:42:15.000 --> 00:42:16.840\nJust I would like to see how he spends a day.\n\n981\n00:42:16.840 --> 00:42:17.840\nYeah.\n\n982\n00:42:17.840 --> 00:42:20.200\nWho would play you in a movie?\n\n983\n00:42:20.200 --> 00:42:22.640\nCan you pick an attractive actress?\n\n984\n00:42:22.640 --> 00:42:24.600\nThere you go.\n\n985\n00:42:24.600 --> 00:42:26.880\nWhat's your biggest pet peeve?\n\n986\n00:42:26.880 --> 00:42:29.560\nBiggest pet peeve is laziness.\n\n987\n00:42:29.560 --> 00:42:33.000\nYou get two front row tickets to anything you want.\n\n988\n00:42:33.000 --> 00:42:34.200\nWhere would you go?\n\n989\n00:42:34.200 --> 00:42:35.200\nSpringsteen concert.\n\n990\n00:42:35.200 --> 00:42:36.400\nThere's a theme here.\n\n991\n00:42:36.400 --> 00:42:38.240\nProbably picking up.\n\n992\n00:42:38.240 --> 00:42:40.920\nSo you get to have lunch with Bruce Springsteen.\n\n993\n00:42:40.920 --> 00:42:42.360\nWhat would you want to talk to him about?\n\n994\n00:42:42.360 --> 00:42:43.360\nOh, God.\n\n995\n00:42:43.360 --> 00:42:45.160\nI think if I had lunch with him, I couldn't speak.\n\n996\n00:42:45.160 --> 00:42:47.000\nI really I thought about this in my head.\n\n997\n00:42:47.000 --> 00:42:49.490\nLike if I ever had a chance to meet him, I think I would just break down and\n\n998\n00:42:49.490 --> 00:42:49.840\ncry.\n\n999\n00:42:49.840 --> 00:42:53.080\nHe's been this guy's been the soundtrack of my life.\n\n1000\n00:42:53.080 --> 00:42:55.160\nTime to run came out when I was a sophomore in high school.\n\n1001\n00:42:55.160 --> 00:42:57.400\nThe guy's from New Jersey.\n\n1002\n00:42:57.400 --> 00:42:58.960\nJust every important stage of my life.\n\n1003\n00:42:58.960 --> 00:43:01.600\nThere's a Springsteen song attached to that.\n\n1004\n00:43:01.600 --> 00:43:02.960\nBut I think I don't know.\n\n1005\n00:43:02.960 --> 00:43:06.410\nI think I would ask him what his motivation was behind Thunder Road, which is\n\n1006\n00:43:06.410 --> 00:43:06.840\none of my\n\n1007\n00:43:06.840 --> 00:43:09.880\nall time favorite songs, like what inspired him to write that song and where do\n\n1008\n00:43:09.880 --> 00:43:10.320\nthe words\n\n1009\n00:43:10.320 --> 00:43:11.640\ncome from?\n\n1010\n00:43:11.640 --> 00:43:14.280\nThe most points you ever scored in the game.\n\n1011\n00:43:14.280 --> 00:43:16.440\nI think it was in the 30s.\n\n1012\n00:43:16.440 --> 00:43:18.480\nI don't think I ever had a 40-point game.\n\n1013\n00:43:18.480 --> 00:43:20.920\nWhat you would consider your biggest business accomplishment?\n\n1014\n00:43:20.920 --> 00:43:25.260\nWell, again, it was shared, but I would say tremendous pride to your point in\n\n1015\n00:43:25.260 --> 00:43:25.800\nhelping\n\n1016\n00:43:25.800 --> 00:43:30.720\nUSA basketballs, women's national team get back on track in 1996, being part of\n\n1017\n00:43:30.720 --> 00:43:31.200\nthe launch\n\n1018\n00:43:31.200 --> 00:43:36.040\nof the WNBA the next year, and then being part of the relaunch of the Big East\n\n1019\n00:43:36.040 --> 00:43:37.240\nin 2013\n\n1020\n00:43:37.240 --> 00:43:40.000\nof all been high-water marks for me.\n\n1021\n00:43:40.000 --> 00:43:43.200\nWhat's one of your daily rituals something you'd never miss?\n\n1022\n00:43:43.200 --> 00:43:46.840\nWatching television at light before I go to sleep with my husband.\n\n1023\n00:43:46.840 --> 00:43:50.160\nIf I turned on the radio in your car, what would I hear?\n\n1024\n00:43:50.160 --> 00:43:58.760\nYou might hear probably a little bit of talk radio and probably classic vinyl,\n\n1025\n00:43:58.760 --> 00:43:59.240\nseries\n\n1026\n00:43:59.240 --> 00:44:04.400\nXM, old songs from when I was in high school and college.\n\n1027\n00:44:04.400 --> 00:44:07.240\nWhat's something about you a few people would know?\n\n1028\n00:44:07.240 --> 00:44:10.320\nThat's just an intense animal lover.\n\n1029\n00:44:10.320 --> 00:44:11.320\nLove animals.\n\n1030\n00:44:11.320 --> 00:44:12.320\nI love it.\n\n1031\n00:44:12.320 --> 00:44:14.280\nThat's the end of the lightning round.\n\n1032\n00:44:14.280 --> 00:44:15.280\nGood job.\n\n1033\n00:44:15.280 --> 00:44:16.280\nGood quick.\n\n1034\n00:44:16.280 --> 00:44:17.280\nIt's just perfect.\n\n1035\n00:44:17.280 --> 00:44:20.000\nJust a few more questions and I'll let you go.\n\n1036\n00:44:20.000 --> 00:44:21.480\nYou've got all these accolades.\n\n1037\n00:44:21.480 --> 00:44:24.560\nI was looking at all the recognition that you've received.\n\n1038\n00:44:24.560 --> 00:44:28.670\nOne thing that really stood out to me is that you were named by the National\n\n1039\n00:44:28.670 --> 00:44:29.280\nMothers\n\n1040\n00:44:29.280 --> 00:44:33.360\nDay Committee as the Outstanding Mother Award.\n\n1041\n00:44:33.360 --> 00:44:36.920\nWhat's the best advice you could give to mothers out there?\n\n1042\n00:44:36.920 --> 00:44:41.310\nI wasn't always because of the distractions of my work and my intensity, but be\n\n1043\n00:44:41.310 --> 00:44:42.000\nas present\n\n1044\n00:44:42.000 --> 00:44:47.080\nas you can and know when it's time to be there to really be there.\n\n1045\n00:44:47.080 --> 00:44:48.640\nThat was what happened to me.\n\n1046\n00:44:48.640 --> 00:44:54.300\nI gave up the WNBA, frankly, to be more present with my two daughters who at\n\n1047\n00:44:54.300 --> 00:44:55.120\nthat time were\n\n1048\n00:44:55.120 --> 00:44:56.920\n12 and 10.\n\n1049\n00:44:56.920 --> 00:44:58.680\nIt was one of the best decisions.\n\n1050\n00:44:58.680 --> 00:45:00.120\nIt was a gamble professionally.\n\n1051\n00:45:00.120 --> 00:45:05.260\nThey didn't have an on-ramp in mind to get back out, but that was one of the\n\n1052\n00:45:05.260 --> 00:45:06.520\nbest decisions\n\n1053\n00:45:06.520 --> 00:45:07.520\nI ever made.\n\n1054\n00:45:07.520 --> 00:45:09.680\nI think my daughters, I hope they really appreciated that.\n\n1055\n00:45:09.680 --> 00:45:11.680\nThey tell me they did.\n\n1056\n00:45:11.680 --> 00:45:13.280\nJust knowing when it's time.\n\n1057\n00:45:13.280 --> 00:45:15.600\nHow did you get the courage to do that?\n\n1058\n00:45:15.600 --> 00:45:16.640\nThat's a big move.\n\n1059\n00:45:16.640 --> 00:45:17.640\nIt was.\n\n1060\n00:45:17.640 --> 00:45:20.320\nAgain, it was a mothers instinct.\n\n1061\n00:45:20.320 --> 00:45:22.400\nIt was just a mothers instinct.\n\n1062\n00:45:22.400 --> 00:45:27.320\nMy husband, he's an amazing guy, a hard job of his own.\n\n1063\n00:45:27.320 --> 00:45:30.490\nWe were splitting the duties at home and he was doing a lot and I was traveling\n\n1064\n00:45:30.490 --> 00:45:32.160\nso much.\n\n1065\n00:45:32.160 --> 00:45:38.020\nI just, my heart of hearts just knew it was time for me to be more present as a\n\n1066\n00:45:38.020 --> 00:45:38.600\nmom, which\n\n1067\n00:45:38.600 --> 00:45:39.600\nI did.\n\n1068\n00:45:39.600 --> 00:45:43.480\nThen, as it turned out, the Big East opportunity came up as my youngest\n\n1069\n00:45:43.480 --> 00:45:44.560\ndaughter Sally was\n\n1070\n00:45:44.560 --> 00:45:46.520\ngoing off to college.\n\n1071\n00:45:46.520 --> 00:45:51.210\nThe bandwidth literally was restored, so that was the luck and the timing of\n\n1072\n00:45:51.210 --> 00:45:52.640\nthat opportunity.\n\n1073\n00:45:52.640 --> 00:45:55.440\nYou've given so much to the game of basketball.\n\n1074\n00:45:55.440 --> 00:45:58.520\nWhat's the biggest lesson it's taught you, Val?\n\n1075\n00:45:58.520 --> 00:46:03.840\nI think about the power of basketball and sports to do good is a big theme of\n\n1076\n00:46:03.840 --> 00:46:04.560\nmine.\n\n1077\n00:46:04.560 --> 00:46:09.160\nI think David was a forerunner in this.\n\n1078\n00:46:09.160 --> 00:46:13.570\nThe joy, just to see the joy that watching basketball brings to fans, that\n\n1079\n00:46:13.570 --> 00:46:14.840\nplaying basketball\n\n1080\n00:46:14.840 --> 00:46:19.710\nbrings to players, having been part of USA basketball and then I did two terms\n\n1081\n00:46:19.710 --> 00:46:20.200\nas the\n\n1082\n00:46:20.200 --> 00:46:25.120\npresident, as a US representative to the International Basketball Federation.\n\n1083\n00:46:25.120 --> 00:46:29.480\nI had a chance to see the impact of basketball in other countries.\n\n1084\n00:46:29.480 --> 00:46:35.280\nIt really is a sport that brings people together from so many walks of life.\n\n1085\n00:46:35.280 --> 00:46:40.030\nIt's sort of joy and peace and harmony and togetherness and all the good things\n\n1086\n00:46:40.030 --> 00:46:40.440\nthat we\n\n1087\n00:46:40.440 --> 00:46:42.400\nneed more of.\n\n1088\n00:46:42.400 --> 00:46:49.070\nFor me, the ability of basketball to bring the world together is real and to\n\n1089\n00:46:49.070 --> 00:46:50.080\nthe extent\n\n1090\n00:46:50.080 --> 00:46:53.220\nthat we've been able to do a little bit of that on top of whatever else we do\n\n1091\n00:46:53.220 --> 00:46:53.680\nwith the\n\n1092\n00:46:53.680 --> 00:46:56.640\nBig East, all the other things we do.\n\n1093\n00:46:56.640 --> 00:46:59.240\nThat makes my job even more worthwhile.\n\n1094\n00:46:59.240 --> 00:47:02.200\nWhat would you say is your unfinished business?\n\n1095\n00:47:02.200 --> 00:47:03.200\nI don't know, David.\n\n1096\n00:47:03.200 --> 00:47:04.840\nI'm not sure I can answer it.\n\n1097\n00:47:04.840 --> 00:47:10.040\nI probably have something to do with until I take the last breath, helping the\n\n1098\n00:47:10.040 --> 00:47:10.640\ncause of\n\n1099\n00:47:10.640 --> 00:47:14.760\nwomen in leadership in the sports industry.\n\n1100\n00:47:14.760 --> 00:47:20.040\nMuch advanced from when I started out, talked about that earlier, but just to\n\n1101\n00:47:20.040 --> 00:47:21.000\nsee women getting\n\n1102\n00:47:21.000 --> 00:47:26.440\ntheir due, whether it's playing, whether it's leading, that is unfinished\n\n1103\n00:47:26.440 --> 00:47:27.480\nbusiness.\n\n1104\n00:47:27.480 --> 00:47:31.880\nI think for me and probably many women who are in my shoes and so the more that\n\n1105\n00:47:31.880 --> 00:47:32.240\nwe can\n\n1106\n00:47:32.240 --> 00:47:37.000\ncontribute on that front, I know I and colleagues that are like me feel very\n\n1107\n00:47:37.000 --> 00:47:38.120\ncommitted to that\n\n1108\n00:47:38.120 --> 00:47:39.120\ncause.\n\n1109\n00:47:39.120 --> 00:47:40.680\nAll right, last question here.\n\n1110\n00:47:40.680 --> 00:47:44.480\nWhat's the best piece of advice you can give aspiring leaders?\n\n1111\n00:47:44.480 --> 00:47:50.680\nI would say just be competent and confident.\n\n1112\n00:47:50.680 --> 00:47:58.000\nCompetency and confidence go a long way and doing it in a manner that is\n\n1113\n00:47:58.000 --> 00:47:59.680\neffective because\n\n1114\n00:47:59.680 --> 00:48:06.020\nof the way you're communicating your confidence and your confidence is I think\n\n1115\n00:48:06.020 --> 00:48:07.360\ncan be a winning\n\n1116\n00:48:07.360 --> 00:48:09.160\ncombination for them.\n\n1117\n00:48:09.160 --> 00:48:12.790\nWell I have to tell you, it's been a real honor to be able to have this\n\n1118\n00:48:12.790 --> 00:48:13.680\nconversation\n\n1119\n00:48:13.680 --> 00:48:14.680\nwith you.\n\n1120\n00:48:14.680 --> 00:48:20.050\nYou're a Hall of Famer on many, many fronts and it's great to see you setting\n\n1121\n00:48:20.050 --> 00:48:20.760\nthe tone\n\n1122\n00:48:20.760 --> 00:48:25.040\nand the standard of leadership in your industry.\n\n1123\n00:48:25.040 --> 00:48:26.040\nForget male, female.\n\n1124\n00:48:26.040 --> 00:48:31.560\nI mean you're one hell of a leader and I think that's why you've done so well.\n\n1125\n00:48:31.560 --> 00:48:32.560\nDavid, thank you so much.\n\n1126\n00:48:32.560 --> 00:48:34.680\nI really appreciate those kind words.\n\n1127\n00:48:34.680 --> 00:48:35.680\nI really do.\n\n1128\n00:48:35.680 --> 00:48:36.240\nThank you so much.\n\n1129\n00:48:36.240 --> 00:48:37.240\n[silence]\n\n1130\n00:48:37.240 --> 00:48:54.160\nAccomplishing something big is always going to take a team effort.\n\n1131\n00:48:54.160 --> 00:48:58.350\nThe respect, the camaraderie, the willingness to help one another towards that\n\n1132\n00:48:58.350 --> 00:48:59.080\ncollective\n\n1133\n00:48:59.080 --> 00:49:00.080\ngoal.\n\n1134\n00:49:00.080 --> 00:49:05.730\nWell that's the mentality of every great team whether they're on a court or in\n\n1135\n00:49:05.730 --> 00:49:06.880\na corporation\n\n1136\n00:49:06.880 --> 00:49:10.720\nand that's how Val builds her teams but you know what?\n\n1137\n00:49:10.720 --> 00:49:12.640\nIt starts with her.\n\n1138\n00:49:12.640 --> 00:49:16.720\nBy supporting her team and respecting them, Val sets the standard that\n\n1139\n00:49:16.720 --> 00:49:17.880\neverybody is there\n\n1140\n00:49:17.880 --> 00:49:20.760\nto cooperate and win together.\n\n1141\n00:49:20.760 --> 00:49:22.760\nThat's a powerful takeaway.\n\n1142\n00:49:22.760 --> 00:49:27.770\nSo let me pause here and offer you some coaching so you can put it to work this\n\n1143\n00:49:27.770 --> 00:49:28.280\nweek.\n\n1144\n00:49:28.280 --> 00:49:33.360\nI want you to spend a few minutes reflecting on three strengths you see in your\n\n1145\n00:49:33.360 --> 00:49:33.840\nteam.\n\n1146\n00:49:33.840 --> 00:49:39.020\nNow I know your team isn't perfect, no team is but focus on the good stuff this\n\n1147\n00:49:39.020 --> 00:49:39.600\nweek.\n\n1148\n00:49:39.600 --> 00:49:43.870\nCultivate that respect for your team and I can promise you it will help you\n\n1149\n00:49:43.870 --> 00:49:44.360\ncreate a\n\n1150\n00:49:44.360 --> 00:49:46.680\nmore cooperative culture.\n\n1151\n00:49:46.680 --> 00:49:48.640\nSo do you want to know how leaders lead?\n\n1152\n00:49:48.640 --> 00:49:52.440\nWhat we learned today is the great leaders respect their teams.\n\n1153\n00:49:52.440 --> 00:49:58.130\nComing up next on How Leaders Lead is Progolfer Rory McElroy just in time for\n\n1154\n00:49:58.130 --> 00:49:59.920\nthe 2024 PGA\n\n1155\n00:49:59.920 --> 00:50:02.480\nbeing held at Valhalla.\n\n1156\n00:50:02.480 --> 00:50:07.080\nThe site where he won the 2014 PGA.\n\n1157\n00:50:07.080 --> 00:50:11.000\nSo be sure to come back again next week to hear our entire conversation.\n\n1158\n00:50:11.000 --> 00:50:14.640\nThanks again for tuning in to another episode of How Leaders Lead where every\n\n1159\n00:50:14.640 --> 00:50:15.240\nThursday you\n\n1160\n00:50:15.240 --> 00:50:19.320\nget to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world.\n\n1161\n00:50:19.320 --> 00:50:23.110\nI may get a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can\n\n1162\n00:50:23.110 --> 00:50:23.920\napply to your\n\n1163\n00:50:23.920 --> 00:50:27.400\nbusiness so that you will become the best leader you can be.\n\n1164\n00:50:27.400 --> 00:50:28.400\nThank you.\n\n1165\n00:50:28.400 --> 00:50:29.400\na lot of people.\n\n1166\n00:50:29.400 --> 00:50:36.400\n(silence)\n\n1167\n00:50:36.400 --> 00:50:41.400\n(silence)\n\n1168\n00:50:41.400 --> 00:50:45.400\n[ Pause ]","

David Novak 0:04

Welcome to How leaders lead where every week you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world, I break down the key learning so that by the end of the episode, you'll have something simple you can apply as you develop into a better leader. That's what this podcast is all about. Believe me, if you want to accomplish something big, you won't get very far without a team. And my guest today knows a lot about the power of teamwork. Val Ackerman is the Commissioner of the Big East Conference. And one of the executives behind the iconic Dream Team at the 96 Olympics. She was also the first ever president of the WNBA. And as the new WNBA season tips off may 14, it's the perfect opportunity to sit down with Val and get some real insights on how to foster teamwork. Because here's the thing, it's not enough to build a good team and hope for the best. To get real cooperation. You've got to support and respect your team. Val does this in a really special way. In this conversation is going to have your head buzzing with ideas to show up for your team. So you all can win big together. Here's my conversation with my good friend head soon to be yours, Val Ackerman.

Bell, I want to get into your business career. But But I understand that you taught leadership and personnel management at Columbia University at one time, how would you sum up your leadership philosophy,

Val Ackerman 1:41

I have my five ds of leadership, and I'll share them with you the five DS make it easy. And I'll tell you what they are. Most are self explanatory, but they are number one do leaders do? Sometimes you're the one that has to do the acting. Number two leaders decide critical skill. We don't always get them right. But I think the more advanced you are as a leader, the better your decision making capabilities become. Number three is delay decision making. Sometimes the best decision is to not make a decision and to hang out and wait and see if the facts change. The fourth D is delegate can't do it all. So you have to rely on your team to do some or most of the work. And then number five, which for me became important in the space I'm in is what I call dividing it up, which is figuring out who you have to involve in either the doing or the decision making process. Sometimes the decision falls to you and you alone, but other times you gotta get others in the mix. So those are my five ds, and I probably rely on all five of them pretty much every day.

David Novak 2:48

And speaking of leadership, you've led the Big East Conference in 2013. What's something about being Commissioner that caught you by surprise, something you didn't expect? To be honest,

Val Ackerman 2:59

not a ton because I had been in a similar role when I was at the WNBA as the president of the league. And so there is commonality in the job description of being at the top of of a league office, terms of the things you do for your schools, slash teams, stakeholders, types of stakeholders that you deal with. So while I'd never worked in college sports before this position, I had worked as I said, in a league setting, so that made it so there weren't, you know, many surprises. But I will say the thing that did strike me and still does to be honest tenures in is the complexity of the NCAA bureaucracy. I mean, our league is only 11 schools. And so you can be somewhat nimble with your own group. But the NCAA is 1100 schools division one alone is 360 plus schools. And so it does create enormous challenges in terms of making decisions, getting things done, coming to a consensus on key matters. And I had never been confronted with anything like that before. I mean, even in the NBA, and WNBA We never got that big. And so decision making and getting things done was seemed easier. The most surprising thing to me was the completeness of the ecosystem. As

David Novak 4:16

a leader, how do you get your mindset geared to deal with that? Because it isn't going away? It's hard.

Val Ackerman 4:22

I'm not sure I'm there. There are sometimes moments of frustration, particularly because if I believe strongly in something, and others don't see it the same way. And because it's a kind of a bit of a democracy here. You know, things that you might believe in, don't necessarily get done. So that part I think has been hard, but you, I think learn how to pick your battles. As I said, you focus on what you can get done, particularly within your own group of schools. And you just kind of keep plugging away. Probably all I can say and hope that maybe timing, there's something that you want to get done. The timing will be more in your favor, the next time the issue comes around. How

David Novak 4:59

would you do

Val Ackerman 5:00

Describe your your daily responsibilities as a commissioner, it's pretty varied. You know, it's an office job at the end of the day a desk job. So I spent a lot of time on email, on Zoom calls. But at the same time, there's a lot of travel, going to sports events, being part of different groups of people throughout the day, whether it's my staff, whether it's colleagues from other conferences, whether it's our business partners, whether it's people on the NCAA staff, they're based in Indianapolis, I do media requests. Today, I'm on the road today and spoke to a sports management class. Back to our earlier discussion about the importance I think of giving back to the next generation. It's definitely a mix of activities. And you know, it keeps it fun. But the best part through it all is really, you're working with some people who are, you know, very competent pros and every sense of the word. I've got a long network of relationships in the business so that that's probably one of the most enjoyable aspects of the job. You know, as I understand it, the conference was in a bit of turmoil when you stepped in, how would you go about assessing the landscape? And then how did you write the ship, that's pretty much true. The league that I'm running was founded in 7919 79, as a college conference focused on basketball, over the years, the league added team slash schools, it added sports, it became more of a some respects as much of or if not more of a Football Conference than a basketball conference. And that led to tension and fragmentation so that when I took over the league, in effect had been through a breakup. And the schools that were the basketball schools were staking out their own course. And so it was a relaunch, if you will, of the sort of the old Big East model, but in a new environment, with new people with some new pillars, including location of the conference office, and then importantly, its network partner. For me, it was, as I said, a chance to use skills I've learned at the NBA in the WNBA. I was familiar with college sports to a degree because I was an athlete myself. So I just had a sense of kind of, you know, what the relationship was between a school and an athlete. And it was a lot of work, quite honestly, because I, as I said earlier, had never worked in college sports before. So a learning curve was steep. And just how did I deal with long hours, trying to listen, talking to a lot of people trying to get help from a lot of sources, and getting sort of the manpower on board to help me with things that I couldn't do myself. So kind of, I would say, it really probably took me the better part of two years, to feel like I had gotten the conference back to where it needed to be to be able to focus on some things that were more strategic, rather than get through the day. So speaking of focus, what were your major tenants that really turned around where the conference was, and, and got you to that point where you could think strategically?

Well, it was, you know, a little bit of everything. I mean, again, it was, I had to hire staff, when I took over as the head of the Big East, we, the staff had been essentially left behind in the prior iteration of the conference, which continued, but with different schools. So getting staff on board was an important to do, we really had nothing else. I mean, I know office. So that was a big to do. And the first year was finding office space in midtown Manhattan, we had to set up a website, we had to set up email system. I mean, sounds funny, but I was on Gmail for the first several months. So we got to Office email account setup. We one of our schools was managing our finances. So we had to re establish that and all the controls that come with managing your budget. Interfacing with our business partners, of course, was critical, especially in television, and then all the things that conferences do had to get done. So that's scheduling, dealing with officials, getting your conference championships up and running. We sponsor 22 Sports here. So it's 22 conference championships that we've got to conduct over the course of the academic year. So I couldn't do all that myself. And again, it sort of mostly went back to hiring the right people who could get that done.

David Novak 9:18

And you have to bring in people in bringing high talent in a time of turmoil. What was your sales pitch?

Val Ackerman 9:26

The excitement of it all? To be honest, it was, you know, I had the benefit of an established brand. In the Big East. It was known to many people in the sports business as a premier Conference, which had had tremendous success over the years, setting up shop in New York City with the excitement that went with that. So it was really about hey, you know, come be part of this venerable organization that's starting a new in a new place with new faces and a couple of new schools. And, you know, be part of getting it going essentially from the ground up again. And some people aren't up for that. To your point maybe maybe that's you're alluding to, and others are mean I was. That's why I took the job. I thought that would be an exciting challenge.

David Novak 10:11

You mentioned to Chip 28 I think 28 Conference Champions, the end value so known for basketball, you're in the Hall of Fame, you've got all these accolades as a great basketball player came up with the basketball world, how do you overcome the perception to show that you cared about these other sports in these other athletes besides just the basketball programs,

Val Ackerman 10:31

early on, it was showing up at everything my travel now is such that I don't quite get to everything every year. But I have a rotation for that. And I have other staff that can step in. But early on, it was that it was just showing up at you know, championships for our other 20 sports, getting to know some of the coaches, developing a personal relationship with them listening to their concerns, and being humble about the fact that I didn't know everything. You know, I've been an athlete my whole life, I have a real appreciation for sports. Some of the sports we sponsor I did like I played field hockey in high school, I was a competitive swimmer. I ran track and field. So you know, when I go to those events actually have a ball because I just remember oh my god, I remember doing this. And it's actually quite fun to relive those memories. It just takes the effort and time you put in to develop the relationships and to show up.

David Novak 11:26

You know, one of the schools in the Big East, UConn won the men's national basketball championship last year. And how do you leverage individual team wins like that to grow the larger brand to grow the conference.

Val Ackerman 11:39

It is brand strengthening, I can attest to that. And we had it to other times because Villanova won the national championship in men's basketball in 2016 and 2018. And that was really, you know, incredible validation of this decision of these basketball schools to stick out on their own, separate themselves from football 10 years ago. And so Villanova my hat goes off to coach right. And their president, father, Peter Donahue, their athletic director, Mark checks the day, you know, they got it done. And that carried us the next year and beyond just in terms of brand recognition. Probably helped a bit with viewership, our ratings have gone up steadily every year. It helps with some of the sales efforts, we sell sponsorships to our conference championships, and our men's basketball tournament in particular has become very attractive as a commercial property. We play at Madison Square Garden. It's been there 42 years. It's Uber competitive, and it sells out. And that wouldn't be happening if we didn't have a reputation for having basketball played at the highest level, you know, in the college space. And now we've got UConn to thank for keeping it at a high level. So it's really those those areas, I think that benefit and more than anything, it's just a source of great pride for our schools, because basketball is their priority. And when you get something like that done, it just it helps everybody

David Novak 13:04

UConn actually left the Big East Conference in 2013. But you brought them back and 2020 Tell us the story of how you did it.

Val Ackerman 13:13

Well, the the sort of modification of the fact is they elected not to come with the seven old Biggie schools who have left to form the new biggies that I'm part of, they stay behind. And I think that had a lot to do with their interest in football. They are playing continuing to play at the FBS level of football, which is the highest level FCS is the next level down. So they had a different agenda 10 years ago, and I can't speak to their interest. But we you know, we always kind of thought of them as a potential addition. They were very different and still are from the current Biggie schools because they're a big public university. They have a different profile than our other 10, who are private schools, most of them Catholic schools, again, continuing to play football at a high level. But in Yukon, we saw history, we saw rivalries, we saw great geography. And we saw, you know, great fans and great basketball fans in particular, and great basketball. And that all combined beginning in around 2019 2018, to sort of get discussions going about the possibility of them rejoining the Big East for the second time around. And, you know, it was discussions with their ad day Benedict, who's terrific. They had a consultant in the mix was in negotiation, because these are always our terms, the conditions of reentry and some of the economics around that. And it worked out and so we announced in 2019. We gave it a year to sort of get everything ready that they were going to come back and 2020 That was the good news. The bad news was they came back during COVID Right in the heart of it in the teeth of it. So it was a funky first year for them back in the Big East and 2021 but they've added a great deal. They've been really great partners, their women's basketball Of course. 100 Coach Orianna is among the best programs of all time. And so it's been for us win win, hopefully for them too. And, you know, we're excited their basketball fortunes are clearly continuing this year. I think they've got a good shot as anybody to repeat as a national championship and men's basketball come April, you

David Novak 15:18

know, well, it seems like colleges just jump from conference to conference, it's kind of hard to keep up with, I mean, which conference you're in? How much of your job is really keeping the schools that you have in the conference? Is that a big challenge for you? Or is it? How do you do it? I mean, what's your strategy on that front?

Val Ackerman 15:37

The answer is, yeah, we think about this a lot because of what's been happening in the last few years. And we're very much monitoring what's been going on with these football conferences, as we see teams jumping, schools jumping, and cross country travel. Now, you know, happening hasn't happened yet. These new configurations don't kick in until this summer. So no one knows how that'll work out yet. We have a lot of communication within the biggies. We talk about this. I do hope that and I believe that our schools do see a value proposition and what we are and being fine with what we're not, which is, you know, we're not a football league at this point. So we're not in that fray. And I think our school basically our you know, our content with that, you know, we're I think I don't want to sound immodest here, but I think we are the destination for a basketball school for whom basketball is the priority sport, it's not a second priority to football. And that can't be said about many schools in the country because a lot of the good basketball schools are also football schools. You know, the combination of that camaraderie, the shared vision of our schools being on national television in a significant way, which we are because of our partnership with Fox Sports, playing our men's tournament in the garden playing our women's tournament at Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, which is a prime a venue for women's basketball, maintaining quality programs and our other sports that we sponsor, being academically mindful, doing other initiatives that enhance our brand. It's a mix of things. It's not one thing. I have no crystal ball here, David on what the future holds for college sports. I hope it's a good future because it adds so much to so many lives. You know, I can say I think right now, the Big East, ironically enough, because this league was picked apart 10 or 1520 years ago, this league is now I'm in a stable position is anybody?

David Novak 17:26

That's great. You don't speak in a movement, you know, there's this thing called the transfer portal. Can you talk a little bit about that? You know, what it is and and how it's impacted your leadership? If it has, I mean, how do you get the best at that as a conference?

Val Ackerman 17:41

Well, just for your listener here, up until a few years ago, there was a role in in college sports that if you transferred in one of five, sports, football, men's and women's basketball, baseball and ice, men's ice hockey, you had to serve what what was known as a year of residency, meaning you could transfer to the school, you go to class, you go to practice, you could do everything, but you couldn't play in games. And for a variety of reasons, that rule was changed a few years ago to allow for what was then known as one time immediate eligibility in those five sports, every other sport you could have transferred without sitting out. But those five sports you had the one year wait, the rule changed a few years ago, and that's where we are, there's a chance that for multiple transfers, they might also be able to play right away, but that versus sitting out. But that's under review. So the answer to your question is, it's really our schools that are feeling it on that one. I mean, they're the ones that are dealing with what this is meant for roster stability, roster composition, roster development. I mean, it used to be that a basketball coach, for example, would spend a fair amount of time recruiting a high school athlete. Now maybe instead of doing that, or in addition to doing that, they go to the so called transfer portal, which is basically just a way of saying, you know, that's your notice, that's where you give notice if you're an athlete, that you want to go to a different school. And then that sort of, you know, it's basically a virtual holding pen. And then once you say that you're available, then other schools can come and they can, you know, try to get you to transfer to their school. So that's really it's really our coaches that are dealing with the intricacies, the nuances, the ramifications of this new environment where athletes have much more freedom to move around. And in some cases, it's worked to the benefit of schools and others where you can't hold on to the player its work to your disadvantage. Our hope, generally, is that the athletes who do this can maintain their academic standing because they need to maintain academic standing in order to stay eligible. It's sort of too early to say the trend lines on whether that's happening.

Koula Callahan 19:52

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David Novak 20:50

So as commissioner, then what would be your biggest challenge that you'd be up against today?

Val Ackerman 20:55

It's a little bit of everything. I mean, you know, in the case of our league, it's trying to support our schools in every way imaginable so they can stay competitive and basketball. We do that by managing the business relationships that make that success, at least in part possible. For me, as a commissioner, you know, part of my job is keeping up with what's happening nationally. You noted before, there's issues now around transfers and player movement. There's issues around conference realignment, which we discussed. There's a new world now with name image and likeness opportunities for these athletes, which is just another way of saying they can now earn endorsement, money from third parties, for using their likeness in ads or on social media posts, or to make speeches or make appearances. And that's a whole new world, for our schools. And without a lot of regulation long story there. But it's a little bit of a free for all right now on that. So just trying to stay up with that trying to figure out if any of that requires Conference policies, conference rules, trying to figure out how to maximize revenue, our schools get the net revenue that we bring in as a conference. So being mindful of our budget, and what our schools need to stay competitive, particularly in basketball is top of mind for me and my staff. And then, you know, most of all, just recognizing our role in the ecosystem and trying to make sure that we're helping maintain a constructive work environment for our, you know, our athletes, our staff, a constructive playing environment for our athletes, and trying to keep the biggest brand healthy and strong, because that adds a halo effect to our schools and helps them in other ways.

David Novak 22:32

Well, I want to talk more about how you lead. But first, I want to take you back a little bit. What's a story from your childhood that shaped the kind of leader you are today. I'll

Val Ackerman 22:41

give you a story. I'm not sure it shaped my leadership path. But it did affect my life in a very dramatic way. And that is you'll laugh. When I was in seventh grade, there were no sports for girls at my junior school. The only sport that was offered was cheerleading. So because that was the only offering I tried out, I thought I did a really good job with my chair, which I practice 100 times in front of my bedroom mirror. And I did not make the cheerleading squad. I got cut. The only team in the world you didn't make Yeah. And I was like kind of an athlete. I was sort of, you know what we call tomboys. Back then I thought of myself as you know, when I went to high school a few years later, I got to play sports, because Title Nine had been passed by then and things opened up. But I got cut from cheerleading in seventh grade. And that was you're seeing my face here. I mean, I just I couldn't believe it. So that one, I guess the leader lesson there was it just made me really determined to have that happen again. And I guess, you know, really did help frame my mindset about, you know, being a girl. How come that was the only sport I got to try out for. And then sort of what that's translated into my career and trying to help women generally, in terms of continued opportunities to play the sports of their dreams.

David Novak 23:55

You know, you as I understand it, you were a lawyer or our lawyer, you've worked in the financial area for a while. And I was surprised that years later you were named the CO marketer of the Year by brand we get up. How did you develop the marketing skill set

Val Ackerman 24:13

on the job? Number one, I did not go to business school. That's a regret. I did get a law degree to know that. I wish I'd gotten an MBA, I had a chance to go back and do it I just kind of was moving on. So a lot of what I know about marketing was really just sort of picking it up on the job through my boss, David Stern, my dear friend Rick welts, who was to your point that CO marketer of the year and quite honestly, I think they sort of split it because when the WNBA launch Rick was really the brains behind NBA marketing at that time, he was the head of NBA properties, critically critically involved in the launch of the WNBA the interface on our branding on our sponsorship sales on our licensing program, you name it, sort of all the visuals Rick had a hand in that. And then I was sort of the operations person, you know, working on kind of the basketball side of things, scheduling the officiating player acquisition, you know, working with our teams on, you know, host of areas. And so I think that was kind of the the way that they were rewarding us both for our respective roles. In the launch of the league for sent dozens and dozens of other people were vitally involved. So we represented a, an amazing group. But really, you know, some of it with marketing is training, some of it is just what's in your gut. And some of it is just, you know, learning and making mistakes along the way and hoping sometimes you get things right, in terms of how you're reaching your fans.

David Novak 25:38

When you were launching the WNBA, what was the biggest learning you had on the marketing front? When you look back? Well,

Val Ackerman 25:46

I'll tell you a learning. When we launched the league, we had a vision about the target audience, we expected hope we would attract women as fans, we hoped we would attract kids, boys and girls, who we thought would look up to the players as role models and want to bring mom and dad to the game, and so on. And the third bucket was that we would attract men's basketball fans, because we were playing in the summer. That was one of the reasons for the summer season, which continues to this day, because we would be the only game in town. NBA is our college basketball is dark, here we were. And what was interesting was we did not attract that men's basketball fan. In the ways that we expected, we thought there would be a crossover between the NBA and the WNBA season ticket base, for example. And that didn't happen. And so that was a learn that was a kind of a lesson, an interesting one. It really proved to be a different demographic. I think now there's more mainstream support for women's basketball than we had hoped for 25 years ago, as more men's basketball fans, I think, take appreciation in the quality of play and the skill level of the players today. We had a little bit of that then, but not as much as we expected. So I would say if there was a surprise based on sort of what we projected, that would be the main, the main thing I would note. Now you

David Novak 27:05

work your way up in the NBA, which is an industry where I can imagine you were surrounded mainly by men. How do you differentiate yourself?

Val Ackerman 27:13

Your supposition is correct. It was very male dominated. Not many women when I started no women to look up to when I started, there weren't any senior women at the league. There were a couple on teams. Jeanie buss was one, her dad owned the Lakers, she owns it now. susan o'malley ran the Washington den bullets. Now wizards was another woman that I got to know and look up to. But other than that, it was that was it. I mean, I just worked my butt off, frankly. I mean, that's I would give that advice to anybody wondering how you get to the top, just work hard, be good at what you do. Understand what your boss is one, and try to give them something they don't want. Try to figure out what they want what they're looking for. You know, if you make a mistake, admit it, try to fix it. Hope it didn't cost anybody a lot of money. I certainly made mistakes. And I don't think I made any that cost a lot of money. Somewhere embarrassing. And you know, you really kind of learn to be you. I mean, I think part of being a good leader is being authentic, not trying to be, you know, too imitative of somebody else. I've learned from every leader, I've worked for taking little bits away from each one. But at the end of the day, I can't be them. I can't assume their personalities. And so, you know, I think for me, I like to think I've got a style that works well. I try to be friendly to people. I'm very respectful of others, I believe deeply in gratitude, telling people thank you, when they've done something that helps me, or that helps others. I don't think there's one thing but I hope, David, those kinds of traits, attributes, behaviors, you know, have helped set me apart and helped get me to where I am today. And hopefully, I can be a good role model for others who are going to follow me in the years to come. Well,

David Novak 29:01

you're known for that, for sure. And you got the nod to become the founding president of the Women's National Basketball Association, making you the first woman to ever launch and operate a sports league did being the first to do something like that put more pressure on you. I mean, what's it like being the first to do something like that where you're really breaking some major ground?

Val Ackerman 29:23

You know, at the time, I wasn't thinking about that. I mean, there was enough pressure. You know, I didn't need to add to it that hey, I'm a woman here. mean, there was enough pressure because the NBA had made the WNBA a priority. It could not fail. With everything that David Stern and Ross Granick, our Deputy Commissioner Rick I talked to and others. And the owners, the NBA owners at that time were they gave David the green light to do this. So it had to be great. You know, the stakes were high. That was the pressure. It was okay, how do I not flub this? How do I do my part? because, again, it was a group effort at the highest order. How do I not let my teammates down? You know, how do I represent the league in the best possible manner, because I was out there, they put me out there, I was the one doing speaking engagements and doing media interviews. And I just took very seriously this trust that had been given to me and the sacred trust that I've been handed. And so I think that was really what was most on my mind, first couple years. And then yeah, you know, yeah, I mean, it was obvious it was, you know, the women. I mean, that was a source of pride that I was able to sort of break through. And now the good news is, there's so many more women who are at a senior level in sports, and many more will follow. I know. So that's the part I feel really gratified about that. I was the first but I'm not going to be the last,

David Novak 30:47

you know, the legendary David Stern, he had the original idea for the WNBA. And you helped shape it and executed? What advice? Can you give leaders on being a great right hand to a visionary leader like him, you

Val Ackerman 31:05

know, get a good night's sleep before be ready for anything. Part of one of my jobs at the league was to be David's, his assistant, and I would sit in his office as he was on calls, I really, I learned so much about what it means to be a commissioner. And not just the things that the public sees, you know, the handing out of the trophies, or, you know, the interviews that you see on television, it was really what goes on, you know, in someone's office, or what happens when they're on the phone, or how they're dealing with a particular matter. And I just, I feel so fortunate that I had the chance to learn from the best, you know, he was he was the dean of commissioners, and you know, may he rest in peace, we've lost him, we lost him four years ago, the beginning of COVID, right before the beginning of COVID, the loss is still deeply felt by many of us, the things he taught us, you know, and I didn't always agree with the way he did things. He had a style very different from mine. You know, I learned a lot from the way he attacked a problem. He was a lawyer, and he had a whole, you know, lawyers mentality about how to do stuff and how to use precedent and ask a million questions before you made a decision on something. And that those are all lessons that serve me in good stead. And, you know, I very much keep as part of my sort of internal crit to this day,

David Novak 32:21

though, how do you think about innovation for the product that you're selling? Whether it's the WNBA, or the Big East Conference, how do you think about innovation itself was

Val Ackerman 32:33

the WNBA, which was a new league, it was very easy to be innovative. That was the mindset, in fact, was because the NBA was behind it, the mantra was, let's just take everything the NBA has learned about how to run a pro basketball league over the last, you know, 40 years, that point, and all the mistakes made and all the successes that were accomplished, and then just do it, you know, from scratch. As if the NBA you know, had started a new and everything you learned could be incorporated into the new model. That was a mindset, it was innovation all the way. But also relying on you know, things that had happened successfully in prior years. The Big East, a little bit of that too. But it just more, you're more confined, I think in the college space because of NCAA restrictions, or other factors don't have the budget in the Big East that the NBA would have to be really innovative, which I had their budget. So it's a little bit harder. But we have I have tried to create new initiatives. And we've done that in the Big East around mental health. critical issue today around diversity, equity inclusion, which we're leading deeply into, we'll continue to do that. Around programming for our student athletes, we have programs and men's and women's basketball directly to the athletes are kind of like personal development programs. We've done some innovative things on television, together with Fox that have not been done by other leagues or other networks. If there is a way to do it, we you know, my attitude to my staff is come to me with a good idea. And if we can pay for it. Let's try it. That has been David, that was David's mindset. So I got that from him. But I do think it's important to have the mix of traditional, tried and true. Here's what you just the normal job or whatever things just no reason to change them. And then being adaptive as much as you can.

David Novak 34:23

As you think about your team. And just the shadow that you cast. You mentioned your style was different than David Stern's fantastic leader. You're a fantastic leader. What's the main thing that you're you're focused on in terms of culture? And how do you drive that deep?

Val Ackerman 34:42

I believe people when they come to work they want meaning. They want to know that they're part of something that's special and important, and they're making a contribution. That's certainly how I felt at the NBA. I mean, you know if you'd love sports and love basketball, there was no better job and work in Italy. Uh, you know, David was a tremendous leader, we always trusted him to make hard calls. And the league grew phenomenally under his watch. And so you just felt energized, you know, everyday going into the office, because you knew that the brand was respected. And people, you know, you go to cocktail parties, and people would say, Oh, wow, you know, you work for the NBA. And so that's kind of how I feel about the Big East. I mean, I feel like I use the word sacred trust before, I feel like I've got a sacred trust here. This is one of the most venerable brands in college basketball. You know, some days wake up, I can't believe I'm 10 years later, I'm running this league that Dave Gavitt found that I knew Dave, another one of my idols. And, you know, I feel a tremendous sense of responsibility to not flub this. And the good news is, I've got a great staff who also I believe, care deeply about the league, want to keep the brand relevant, you know, know what we're doing to help our athletes because they're the future. And so it hasn't been super hard, I don't think to imbue with our work a sense of meaning and purpose. But as it relates to culture, I mean, I'm just, you know, try to hire people who I think are good people who care about being good teammates, who work well together, pick each other up, you know, we have events where everybody's it's all hands on deck. So there's a premium on, on teamwork and camaraderie. And, you know, making sure my staff knows how much I appreciate them each and every day, because I certainly couldn't do what I do if they didn't do what they do. So it's a little bit of all of that.

David Novak 36:42

We'll be back with the rest of my conversation with Val Ackerman in just a moment. Another fantastic leader in the world of basketball is Steve Kerr, the head coach of the Golden State Warriors, just like bow, he's the kind of leader who's willing to embody the values he wants to see on his team. In fact, as he told me, that's key. If you want to actually hold those standards up for everyone else to follow, it

Steve Kerr 37:07

would be hard to throw it in their face on day one and say these are our values. What I did our first year was I tried to embody our values each day with my interaction with the players with the staffs interaction with the players are other values. By the way, besides joy, we're competitiveness, mindfulness and compassion. Those values are all based on me personally, what makes me tick as a human being. And since I'm the leader of the team, those values have to really come alive as Pete Carroll talked about. And so I tried to be really compassionate with the team right away. I tried to be very competitive in terms of putting together drills and keeping score and constantly pitting the team against one another and drills and scrimmages. And then we tried to have as much fun as possible. We played music during practice, we showed funny videos, we celebrated guys, birthdays, we celebrated the birth of children, we invited family members on the team plane so that they could travel with us. We tried to incorporate everything that sort of embodied our values. And then I think maybe a couple of months in, we sat down one day, and I wrote all those values on the board and said, This is what we're about. And this is what you guys need to enhance and grow every single day for us to become special.

David Novak 38:24

Go back and listen to my entire conversation with Steve Kerr, Episode 62. Here on how leaders lead.

There's no question you're, you're a real Trailblazer. Not only did you help start the WNBA, you you also created the US National Women's team, they won gold medals, the 96 Olympics, what you've done for women's basketball is absolutely remarkable. Because of your leadership, what's something that you hope, more women will come to believe

Val Ackerman 39:02

that they can do this to, you know, you hear this expression, if you can see it, you can be it. I really think having more women in leadership positions in sports reinforces that, that could be me. That's my goal, career goal. You know, I'd like to be able to make an impact too. And I think the more women we have at the top, the more likely we will continue to have women at the top and more of them. I tell women and men frankly, all the time, it's not easy to get these jobs and to do well on these jobs. I mean, don't get me wrong. I mean, it's a lot of work. You got to be really good at what you do. You got to manage politics and relationship management and all that. You got to have a lot of stamina. You have to have thick skin some days, because things aren't always gonna go right. And it's a marathon not a sprint in some ways. I've been at this for 35 years. And so you know, it's some days are just like, oh, wow, okay. But again, I'm My team, we care about our league special, we have, you know, good collaboration, sort of top to bottom. But back to women, I think that's it, if I can be a little bit of an inspiration to somebody who might take my job in five years, or 10 years or 20 years, then I will have succeeded. You

David Novak 40:18

know, if there's anybody that could really talk about building a winning team, I would imagine it would have to be you what you did with the Olympics, you know, what you've seen with the Dream Team? You know, you know, you've seen it all. And what do you believe, are the real keys to building a winning team? Understanding

Val Ackerman 40:36

what your organization needs? When I had to take over the relaunch of the Big East? I had to learn fast, like, Okay, who do I hire? what functions do we have, what skill sets are needed for those roles, and then, you know, just doing your best to match it up with people who are interested in, you know, in taking that leap. It's a group effort, it is about a team, it's about hiring the right people, it's about giving them the direction, they need to do their jobs, staying out of their way, most of the time, assuming they've hired the right people, you can do that. Jumping in when you need to making sure they understand the priorities of the organization, making sure that they're respectful to one another. You want to have the kind of workplace that people want to be part of, and accepting, frankly, that sometimes people are going to move on. I mean, I've had great staff members who've left most cases for great jobs. And that's you gotta Cheer Mom. And that happens to, you know, you've got to stay a friend and a mentor and a source of support. And I've tried to do that as well, in my career. It's just, you know, people have their own ideas about where they want to be, and you just have to accept that too.

David Novak 41:45

You know, this has been so much fun. Val and I want to have some more with my rapid fire questions by lightning round. Are you ready for this?

Val Ackerman 41:54

Oh, boy. Okay.

David Novak 41:55

What are three words that others would use to describe you? I

Val Ackerman 41:59

mean, I'm smiling with you, but people would probably call me intense. Serious, I would hope they would say compassionate.

David Novak 42:06

If you could be one person for a day besides yourself, who would it be?

Val Ackerman 42:10

Bruce Springsteen's manager. Just I would like to see how he spends

David Novak 42:16

a day. Yeah. Who would play you in a movie?

Val Ackerman 42:19

Can you pick a an attractive actress?

David Novak 42:24

What's your biggest pet peeve?

Val Ackerman 42:25

biggest pet peeve is laziness. You get

David Novak 42:29

to front row tickets to anything you want. Where would you go? Springsteen

Val Ackerman 42:33

concert. There's a theme here, probably picking up on. So

David Novak 42:38

you get to have lunch with Bruce Springsteen. What would you want to talk to him about?

Val Ackerman 42:42

Oh, God, I think if I had lunch with him, I couldn't speak. I really I've thought about this in my head. Like if I ever had a chance to meet him, I think I would just break down and cry. He's been this guy has been the soundtrack of my life. Born to Run came out when I was a sophomore in high school, the guys from New Jersey. Just every important stage of my life. There's a Springsteen song attached to that. But I think I don't know, I think I would ask him what his motivation was behind Thunder Road, which is one of my all time favorite songs like what inspired him to write that song? And where did the words come from?

David Novak 43:10

The most points you ever scored in the game? I

Val Ackerman 43:14

think it was in the 30s. I don't think I ever had a 40 point

David Novak 43:17

game, what you would consider your biggest business accomplishment? Well, again,

Val Ackerman 43:21

it was shared. But I would say tremendous pride to your point in helping USA Basketball women's national team get back on track in 1996, being part of the launch of the WNBA the next year, and then being part of the relaunch of the Big East in 2013 have all been high watermarks for me.

David Novak 43:39

What's one of your daily rituals, something you'd never miss watching

Val Ackerman 43:43

television at light before I go to sleep with my husband.

David Novak 43:46

If I turned on the radio in your car, what would I hear? You

Val Ackerman 43:49

might hear probably hear a little bit of talk radio. And probably like classic vinyl. Sirius XM like old songs from like when I was in high school and college.

David Novak 44:02

What's something about you a few people would know that

Val Ackerman 44:07

I just an intense animal lover. love animals.

David Novak 44:11

I love it. That's the end of the lightning round. Good job. Good, quick, perfect. And just a few more questions. And I'll let you go. You know, you've got all these accolades. I was looking at all of the recognition that you've received. But one thing that really stood out to me is that you were named by the National Mother's Day committee as the outstanding mother award. What's the best advice you you could give to mothers out there?

Val Ackerman 44:36

I wasn't always because of the distractions of my work and my intensity, but be as present as you can and know when it's time to be there to really be there. And that was what happened to me. I mean, I gave up the WNBA, frankly, to be more present with my two daughters who at that time were 12 and 10. And it was the best one of the best decisions I made. It was a gamble profession. She really didn't have an on ramp in mind to get back out. But that was one of the best decisions I ever made. I think my daughters, I hope they really appreciated that they told me they they did. Just knowing when it's time, how'd

David Novak 45:13

you get the courage to do that? Oh, that's a big move. It

Val Ackerman 45:16

was. And again, it was just, it was a mother's instinct. It was just a mother's instinct. And you know, my husband, who's a amazing guy, who was, you know, her job of zone, we were splitting the duties at home, and he was doing a lot and I was traveling so much. And I just, you know, I just in my heart of heart of hearts, just knew it was time for me to be more present as a mom, which I did. And then, you know, as it turned out, the biggest opportunity came up as my youngest daughter, Sally was going off to college. And so the bandwidth literally was restored. So that was the luck and the timing of that, of that opportunity.

David Novak 45:51

You know, you've given so much to the game of basketball, what's the biggest lesson it's taught you? Well,

Val Ackerman 45:57

I think about the power of basketball and sports to do good, is a big theme of mine. I think David, David was a forerunner in this. But the joy just to see the joy that watching basketball brings to fans that playing basketball brings two players, you know, having been part of USA basketball, and then I did two terms as the President, as a US representative to the international Basketball Federation, I had a chance to see the impact of basketball and other countries. And it really is a sport that brings people together from so many walks of life, it sort of joy and peace and harmony and togetherness and all the good things that we need more of. And so for me, the ability of basketball to bring the world together, is real. And to the extent that, you know, we've been able to do a little bit of that on top of whatever else we do with the Big East all the other things we do. I mean, that's, you know, that makes my job even more worthwhile.

David Novak 46:58

Now, what would you say? Is your unfinished business?

Val Ackerman 47:01

I don't know, David, I can't I'm not sure I can answer it. I mean, I probably has something to deal with, you know, until I take the last breath helping with, you know, the cause of women and leadership in the sports industry much advance from when I started out talking about that earlier. But just to see, you know, women getting their due, whether it's playing, whether it's leading, that is unfinished business, I think for me, and probably many women who are in my shoes, and so the more that we can contribute on that front. I know I and colleagues that are like me, feel very committed to that cause.

David Novak 47:38

All right, last question here, what's the best piece of advice you can give aspiring leaders, I

Val Ackerman 47:44

would say just be competent, and confident. competency and confidence, go a long way. And doing it in a manner that is effective, because of the way you're communicating your competence. And your confidence is I think, can be a winning combination for them. Well,

David Novak 48:09

I have to tell you, it's been a real honor to be able to have this conversation with you. You're You're a Hall of Famer on many, many fronts. And it's great to see you setting the tone and the standard of leadership in your industry. Forget male, female. I mean, you're you're one hell of a leader. And I think that's why you've done so well. David,

Val Ackerman 48:31

thank you so much. I really appreciate those kind words. I really do. Thank you so much.

David Novak 48:50

accomplishing something big is always going to take a team effort, the respect, the camaraderie, the willingness to help one another towards that collective goal. Well, that's the mentality of every great team, whether they're on a court or in a corporation. And that's how Val builds her teams. But you know what, it starts with her by supporting our team and respecting them. FAU sets the standard that everybody is there to cooperate and win together. That's a powerful takeaway. So let me pause here and offer you some coaching so you can put it to work this week. I want you to spend a few minutes reflecting on three strengths you see in your team. Now I know your team isn't perfect. No team is but focus on the good stuff this week. Cultivate that respect for your team. And I can promise you, it will help you create a more cooperative culture. So do you want to know how leaders lead? Well, we learned today is the great leaders respect their teams. Coming up next on how leaders lead is pro golfer Rory McIlroy just in time for the 2024 PGA be been held at Valhalla. The site where he won the 2014 PGA so be sure to come back again next week to hear our entire conversation. Thanks again for tuning in to another episode of how leaders lead where every Thursday you get to listen in while I interview some of the very best leaders in the world. I make it a point to give you something simple on each episode that you can apply to your business so that you will become the best leader you can be

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