Profile: Cynthia Marshall, CEO, Dallas Mavericks
https://theundefeated.com/features/mavericks-interim-ceo-marshall-i-want-to-do-it-for-the-sisterhood/
By EmployDiversity
The African-American CEO Transformed the Sports Franchise from “an Animal House” into a Fundamentally More Diverse and Inclusive Organization
One can only imagine Cynthia Marshall was appalled when she first walked into what one employee had called “a real-life Animal House.” The Dallas Mavericks basketball team was in complete disarray after a Sports Illustrated Magazine exposé revealed the team and supporting operations were toxic. Misogyny, sexual harassment, a lack of salary parity, and racism were rife.
Team owner Mark Cuban called Marshall soon after the report had come out. He spent nearly an hour on the phone convincing the former AT&T regional President that she was the person he needed to clean house and put the business back in order. An hour before the call, though, Marshall had not even known who Cuban was (though her children already were familiar with the Shark Tank investor). If Marshall accepted the job, she would be the first African-American and woman to run a National Basketball Association (NBA) team.
From Humble Beginnings ....
Marshall was raised in Northern California in public housing. Not only was the neighborhood tough, but home life wasn’t easy, either. She watched as her father shot a man (judged self-defense). She survived the physical abuse he meted out on her and the rest of the family. She and her mother and siblings subsequently moved out of the tenement to be safe.
Marshall went on to become the first member on either side of the family to go to college. After graduating from University of California at Berkeley in 1981, she joined AT&T’s Human Resources department. She became AT&T’s President of North Carolina 26 years later. In 2012, she was promoted to senior vice president of human resources/chief diversity officer for the national office.
Mark Cuban called her in early 2018. Marshall accepted his proposal and began work soon after.
Cleaning House
The first action Marshall would take would be to implement a 100-day turnaround plan. The plan would create gender and racial parity throughout the organization. For instance, all of the executive level and middle management were white men. By the end of 2019, she had made both segments of the corporation half-women, with 47% of upper and middle management people-of-color. She created the role of Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer to ensure staff adhered to a transparent code of conduct. She also opened a hotline for employees who had felt they had been harassed or treated unfairly due to gender or race.
For the Sisterhood
Marshall told CNN she was driven and inspired to do the work at the Dallas Mavericks “for the Sisterhood”. Helping others -- especially women and people of color -- work in a fulfilling environment and achieve their potential is “what gets her out of bed,” she explained. Her perseverance, grit, and intelligence shows that it is possible to implement diversity and inclusiveness in organizations in short order and with heart.
The Dallas Mavericks were plagued by a toxic culture. She is turning it around (includes video interview)
Mavericks’ Cynthia Marshall: ‘I want to do it for the sisterhood’
