Cynthia “Cynt” Marshall, the chief executive officer of the NBA’s Dallas Mavericks, spoke to hundreds of Central Massachusetts women at the Worcester Chamber of Commerce’s 12th annual Women’s Leadership Conference as the first keynote speaker of the day-long event, noting that connections and positive impact matter.

Marshall became the first black female CEO in NBA  history in 2018 when Mark Cuban, the owner of the Mavericks, called upon her to lead the Mavericks to improve their workplace culture and encourage greater diversity and inclusion. Marshall was hired following allegations of sexual harassment and workplace misconduct that took place within the Mavericks organization for a period of over twenty years.

“The question that I asked myself was, ‘What impact are you going to have?’” Marshall said. “I did it for the Sisterhood…Sister, we are powerful. We need to tell our stories.”

Prior to joining the Mavericks, Marshall worked at AT&T for 36 years in leadership roles focusing on similar priorities relating to diversity, inclusion and workplace culture. 

Marshall received a full scholarship to attend the University of California, Berkely. She studied business administration and human resources management. She was the first Black female in her sorority and also the university’s first African-American cheerleader. 

In her keynote remarks, she shared stories of being raised in California in public housing projects with a family that struggled to pay the bills. She witnessed her father shoot a man in self-defense, and she saw her mother experience domestic abuse. 

“I learned there is a difference between doing things right and doing the right thing,” Marshall said. “Character matters.”

Marshall said that women today must have their priorities straight when it comes to balancing work and family.

“Pick one thing that you’re going to focus on to help your physical, mental, or spiritual health,” Marshall said. “We know how to be here for each other.”

But to hold these relationships, people need to have trust and authenticity.

“Intent, inclusion, insight, and inspiration – that’s how I’ve been trying to lead,” Marshall said. “It transformed the Dallas Mavericks.”

In focusing on character and integrity, Marshall shared a personal story about her adopted son and a baby photo contest. Around the time she and her husband adopted their son, his school was having a baby photo contest. Marshall did not have any photos of her son as a baby, prior to his adoption. She came home from work, and she found her husband preparing their son to deliver a made up story with a photo of Marshall’s nephew that her son was supposed to tell the class was actually him.

“The next day, I come back from work. The trophy from the baby picture contest is on our kitchen table,” Marshall said. “My son said, ‘I got up there. I held the picture and I said this is my cousin David.’” Marshall’s son told his whole story. He said everyone started crying when he told his story so he got the trophy.

“Here’s the lesson though. We all have character. Integrity is in us,” Marshall said. “At that young age, with his permission to lie, that boy got up and told the truth. Because it was just in him to tell the truth. It is in us to do the right thing each day.”

As CEO of the Maverick’s, one of her chief priorities is to focus on diversity and inclusion. 

“Diversity is about counting the numbers,” Marshall said. “Inclusion is about making the numbers count.”

And Marshall doesn’t want there to be any barriers for women any longer within the Mavericks organization and beyond.

 “There are so many things as women that we have to challenge,” Marshall said. “It’s important to me, as women, we know we can do it all.”

This also means that women must have the same tools that men do within the workplace. Marshall spoke of how women often get a seat at the table and are expected to know the culture, the language, the intel. No one teaches a woman at the table the “social norms” like they do for men.

“I didn’t understand the culture. Nobody was taking the time to really help me,” Marshall said. “Diversity is about the mix. It’s about the ingredients. Inclusion is about what we do with those ingredients.”

And that’s why Marshall had everyone learn the “Cupid Shuffle.” Everyone at the Women’s Leadership Conference got up and danced together.

 “It’s a lesson about how we have to take the time to invite people. We have to take the time to teach them really how to dance, to really be included,” Marshall said. “That is one of the things we will absolutely not compromise…We can bust all of these myths because we know the truth.”