From the locker room to board meetings, the Golden State Warriors basketball team operates with a competitive edge that helps drive the organization’s forward-thinking mission, including being a more inclusive workforce. One example of the 2017 National Basketball Association champs’ mission to embrace diversity included teaming up with consulting company Accenture to tackle change management practices in the executive boardroom.

Jennifer Cabalquinto (pictured, left), chief financial officer at the Golden State Warriors, and Mike Sutcliff (pictured, right), group chief executive officer of Accenture Digital, spoke with Jeff Frick (@JeffFrick), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Accenture International Women’s Day event in San Francisco, California. They discussed the shift in organizational culture and what it means for diversity.

[Editor’s note: The following answers have been condensed for clarity.]

So, Mike, you’re out on the field. You talk to a lot of customers. … Do people get that diversity of opinions, points of views, teams, isn’t just to do the right thing? It’s actually to drive better business outcomes? 

Sutcliff: I think they do. One of the reasons we were attracted to work with the Warriors is they were looking not just to change their game, but to change the community that they were involved in. We see lots of clients with the same aspiration. They’re trying to figure out how to improve the way the world works and lives.

If you want to improve the way the world works and lives, you’ve got to have diversity of thought. People with different educational backgrounds, cultural backgrounds, different experiences, who can look at those really tough problems and say, ‘There’s a better way.’ And that’s where we think diversity brings power — that diversity of experience allowing you to come up with new solutions.

Jennifer, from a woman’s perspective being in a very male-dominated world, how are you attracted to this industry? What was your experience going in knowing that you were going to be in the minority in terms of the executives around the table?

Cabalquinto: I am one of five children. I have four brothers, two older, two younger. We were raised in Brooklyn. I’d like to think that I’ve been competing with boys my entire life. And I think my environment sort of gave me a tough skin. So I don’t look at it in that lens. I didn’t approach the job thinking I’m the only woman, or I’m one of a handful of women.

I really approached the job saying I can make a difference in this organization and to help drive and bring a new perspective to the sports industry. It was my first sports job. I really thought that I could bring a different perspective. And I think the ownership saw the same thing. That’s why I came aboard. I think not filtering anything that I do with the lens of ‘I’m a woman’ really makes a difference in terms of how I approach the role, and how other people receive that.

So that said, for the gals who weren’t raised in Brooklyn with four brothers, what advice would you give them? What advice would you give to young women, say a junior in college, a senior in college, first years out, who want to get started and are attracted to a traditionally male-dominated space? 

Cabalquinto: Sure, I think, one, don’t self-edit. Know you can succeed in that space. Just because it’s male dominated doesn’t mean that it needs to always be that way. I also think you have to be great at what you do. I mean it’s performance first in any industry. When you can actually have the confidence in your abilities it starts to show through, and then people respond to that.

Perform really, really well. Be deliberate about what you want. Ask for what you want. Set your rules. I think all of that is really important. Find your voice.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Accenture International Women’s Day — Creating a Culture of Equality event.

Photo: SiliconANGLE