Beth Brooke, EY WABN founder, on why she encourages the empowerment of female athletes

Beth has shown her abilities in the business world and has become a woman of global influence but she candidly credits playing basketball in college for helping shape her career. WABN interviewed her about the importance of athletes in business and the various social issues she faces as she encourages the empowerment of female athletes.

- It seems that playing basketball in college has opened many doors for you.

Brooke: Well, the timing was good. I was in the first class of women to get college sport scholarships, and that was because of Title IX Legislation in the USA.

- So, was it a time of transition, an opportunity to empower women? How would you describe the impact of Title IX on US culture in the last 40 years?

Brooke: It has changed everything. It started to level the playing field. We still have a long way to go but it started to level the playing field, to show that women matter and deserve to be educated equally. Women deserve to play sports on an equal level to men. Even 40 years later, we still do not have pay equity for women in business and women in sports. We still do not have equal representation on company boards. So yes, we still have a long way to go. However, Title IX was extraordinarily helpful: if I could wave a magic wand and make Title IX a global piece of legislation, I absolutely would.

-After graduating from college, you began your career in the business world. Did you ever think about　playing sport professionally?

Brooke: Even though I played at university level, I was not talented enough to be an Olympian and there were no professional teams for women’s basketball. So, my only choice was to move from education to business. That was my reason, but I think that is still true even for many women today. Although there are professional sports for women, they do not pay well enough so when a woman’s sporting career comes to an end, she still has to do something else.

- So, women's professional sports are gradually expanding, but the player income is not enough?

Brooke: Men can earn enough money in their professional sporting career to fund their retirement. For the most part, women cannot and face the same issue as me. Is there a need to pivot away from sport? Yes, at some point. It is exceptionally rare for a woman to make enough money in sports that they can actually retire. On the other hand, when I made the move from education and sport to business, I understood that playing sport was a huge advantage for me.

-Could you explain how playing sports was an advantage?

Brooke: When I started my professional career, there were less women in the workplace. However, even as one of the few women, I was not treated like a woman, I was treated like an athlete. That must have been interesting to experience.

Brooke: As an athlete, I was respected and given more opportunities than the men who were entering the workplace at the same time. So, sport equalized gender for me. Of course, sport had taught me how to be a leader and equipped me with the knowledge and skills to be a success. Given respect and equal opportunities, I could prove myself because I was an athlete and knew how to succeed. My collegiate sports career totally negated that bias and instead gave me an advantage.

- I heard that at the beginning of your business career, I understand that your aim was to be financially independent by the age of 45. That was interesting and ambitious so how did you envisage your career?

Brooke: Well, I wanted to succeed. I wanted to earn enough money so, at age 45, I would be financially independent and do whatever I wanted. What that really means is that I was not confident about being able to live out my purpose in my career. I wanted to be successful as fast as I could so I could go pursue my purpose when I got to 45. What I did not realize then was that you could pursue a purpose and have a career at the same time.

- Did you ever see promotion as the purpose of your career?

Brooke: Oh, my purpose was never about getting promoted. No. My purpose was what was I doing with the platform that I had, how to make a difference in the world. That was my definition of purpose.

-Can promotion be a platform to indicate my ability and competence?

Brooke: It's what your career has shown you. In my case, it started with playing basketball in college, and promotions are a good indicator to those around me that I have proven my abilities. However, promotion was not the goal, it was only part of my platform.

-So, enhancing the Beth Brook platform became a key purpose for you.

Brooke: Yes, that’s right.

-Could you describe how your purpose influenced decisions or choices in your career?

Brooke: I would say that I was just always “thinking bigger”, always challenging the status quo. My purpose driving me to say, “What more could we be doing? How could we be doing it differently? How could we have a bigger impact on the world?” Defining my purpose was influential in my decision to leave EY and to work in government on health care reform. When President Bill Clinton was elected for the first time, he set out to reform health care in the United States. To me, it looked as if it was going to be as massive as the social security reform of a few decades earlier and I just wanted to be a part of it. I thought that was the most purpose-driven thing I could possibly do. So, I resigned from the partnership and left EY. I went to work for the government, made virtually no money, and joined a team where I thought we were going to change the world. We tried and we didn’t succeed but we had a ball. It is one of the more meaningful things I have ever done.

Women Athletes Business Network (WABN)

- The EY purpose is “building a better working world.” How does this relate to the establishment of Women Athletes Business Network (WABN) in 2015?

Brooke: The creation of WABN is linked to EY’s sponsorship of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. We looked at the International Olympic Committee’s strategy called Agenda 2020 and we could see the IOC’s commitment to gender equality, and a big part of the strategy was gender equity. Given EY’s commitment to women and gender equity, I wondered what we could do together, that would be helpful to the IOC and be helpful to EY in our sponsorship.

- So how did you start out?

Brooke: I began by talking with women Olympians, trying to learn more about them. Their stories were all similar: they competed at the highest levels but, when they retired from sport in their 20s or 30s, they did not know what to do next. And they stumbled, they really stumbled, and had felt great insecurity about it. But I was saying to them, “You are one of the greatest leaders of all time. Why did you think that you were not valuable? How could you be insecure when you have great leadership potential?” To make a long story short, we started WABN to help these women in sport transition and pivot to life after sport. To prepare for success in business, run for office as a politician, go into the leadership in sports, or whether they wanted to start their own business.

-It’s surprising to hear that 94 percent of the highest ranking in women in business, played some sport at college level. It’s truly amazing.

Brooke: Yes, isn’t that an amazing statistic? 94% means virtually every woman who has made it to a senior level in business has played sport. Of course, if a young girl is very successful, that doesn’t mean that she is going to be successful in business. But it does mean that if she has been successful in sport, she has everything it takes to reach the most senior levels in business if she applies herself. I also think that is a great message for parents: young girls should play and keep playing sport. Girls drop out of sport at puberty at four times the rate of boys because of the societal pressure to stop competing. Parents should know that one of the best things that they can do for their girls is keep them playing sport.

- Do athletes and their families need to have a better understanding of what it means to be a woman in sports?

Brooke: They already know “practice, practice, practice.” Hard work, focus, discipline. Compete. Losing is just feedback, so adjust, go out, try it again, and work harder. There’s a constant quest for perfection. That is the recipe for success in sports. It is also the recipe for success in business.

-So, how do athletes treat their losses? Is it feedback?

Brooke: Losing is just feedback. Athletes are eminently coachable. They do not want to be told how great they are. They are constantly wanting to be better. That is the athlete. And those are the kind of employees you want.

-And I would like to ask about LGBT+ athletes. How can we improve the situation to make it safe for athletes who are struggling to come out?

Brooke: Thank you for asking an important question. Far too few athletes decide to come out because it is very personal and can be very complicated. As an athlete, it involves you, your team, your family, and also your community. There are a variety of spheres where you might be present. All of them must be safe for you to come out but, far too often, it is the sporting environment which is not safe. Why is that? Firstly, an athlete has fans. Are your fans going to embrace you? If you are an elite athlete, and you have endorsement contracts, are those contracts going to go away? Even an elite tennis player like Martina Navratilova lost all her endorsement contracts when she came out. I mean, that is a difficult decision. There are very few athletes who come out and keep competing, so they come out and retire. It just tells you that it is a very difficult environment and this situation has to change.

-Following your retirement from EY, how are you spending your time? Or how are you redefining your purpose in your life?

Brooke: My purpose is to try to help people or companies who are doing incredible, purposeful things in the world. For instance, I am on the board of a company that makes a bionic pancreas, that could potentially be life altering for those who living with type 1 diabetes. I have just joined the board of the New York Times. Trust in journalism and our news media is so fragile, so I could not be prouder to have joined the board of the New York Times at a time like this. So, how am I spending my time? I am just trying to help people who I believe are doing important things in this world. Given all the things that I have done and experienced over the years, the most valuable thing I can offer is to help them succeed.

-Would you mind sharing a little about your involvement with the United States Olympic and Paralympic Committee?

Brooke: I believe sport has an inspirational role to unite the world at a time when it is so desperately divided. I think that the Olympic Games is the best form of sport: it that brings people together, brings countries together, and brings athletes together which is why I am so excited about the Tokyo 2020 games. It will be a wonderful event witnessed by everyone around the world who will be inspired and united by that common purpose.

Interviewer: Jun Ikushima (Sports journalist)