Val Ackerman's Rules for the Long Game

In 2010, Abe Madkour and then-publisher Richard Weiss got a note from someone they both knew in the business. A conference on the business of women in sports, it said, was worth exploring.

On Oct. 1, Madkour, now Sports Business Journal's publisher and executive editor, told that story to open the 14th Game Changers Conference. "She was right," he said. The note came from Val Ackerman.

SBJ then announced a new annual honor, the Val Ackerman Legacy of Leadership Award, and gave the first one to Ackerman. Madkour credited his colleague Lori Fuller with the idea. The award will recognize a woman whose career stands for leadership, integrity and vision, and who has opened doors for women in sports and mentored the next generation.

The timing fit. Ackerman retired as Big East commissioner on Aug. 31 after 13 years. Before that she was the WNBA's founding president, after joining the NBA as a staff attorney in 1988.

Where she started

Ackerman said that when she started at the NBA, the women working across leagues, teams, networks, media and brands were "largely secretaries." The exceptions she remembered were few: Jeanie Buss with the Lakers, Susan O'Malley with the Washington franchise, Gerry Laybourne and Kay Koplovitz in television, and writer Jackie MacMullan.

Getting ahead, she said, mostly meant being left to your own devices, plus the counsel of male mentors if you were lucky. She was. She thanked David Stern, Russ Granik, Rick Welts and Big East founder Dave Gavitt. Today, she said, women in the business have both men and women to look up to and learn from.

Five things that proved true

Then she offered five lessons from her career.

1. Relationships matter. "The sports world is nothing if not a relationship business," she said. How you treat people and how you show up count, wherever you sit.
2. Lead like yourself. Former CBS Sports president Neal Pilson once told her that "leaders come in all shapes and sizes." Stern liked to raise his voice now and then to make a point. "That's not me," she said. The best leaders, in her view, take the best of their mentors and blend it with their own strengths.
3. Be very good at your job. At some point the buck stops with you, so know your company and the world it operates in. Keep learning. "There's never much traffic on the extra mile."
4. Say thank you. No success in sports is a solo act, she said, and thanking partners and staff builds teamwork, camaraderie and loyalty.
5. Be honest about parenting. Her hardest stretch was being pregnant in her early NBA years, then raising two young daughters with her husband, Charlie, before email, Zoom or remote work. She expects today's parents to have an easier time, but said the juggling is still real in a business of nights, weekends and travel. Set clear boundaries with your boss, she said, and accept that a good job can be good enough without being perfect.

Her daughter Sally was 20 months old when Ackerman became WNBA president. Sally is now expecting her first child. "And yes, it's a girl," Ackerman said.

She closed with three quick hitters. Eat before any event where you have to speak. Carry a small bag to games, because security won't care who you are. And before you agree to give a speech, ask how long they want you to talk. Then: "Here's to changing the game."