Cathy Engelbert on Asking for (and Getting) What You Want at Work

When Cathy Engelbert found out she was pregnant, she resigned from a decades-long climb to becoming a partner at Deloitte. In her mind, being a good mom and a good exec couldn’t coexist. But one male colleague saw her potential — and told her so. That changed everything. Cathy stayed, asked for the flexibility she needed, and learned to advocate for herself. She went on to become Deloitte’s first female CEO. Now? She’s leading one of the fastest-growing sports leagues as WNBA Commissioner.

In this episode of 9 to 5ish, Cathy also shares: 

• How sports turned her from a shy kid to a bold leader

• Why the environments of Deloitte and the WNBA actually aren’t that different

• Her first 9-1-1 call as league commissioner – and the one trait that helped her get through it

• Why implementing Deloitte’s paid family leave policy was the “most courageous thing” she’s ever done

• One way she thinks the WNBA can be a model for the men’s leagues 

On Pushing for a Generous Paid-Family Leave Policy at Deloitte

Cathy: On Mother's Day, I was the CEO for like a minute. My team says, you're going on Meet the Press on Mother's Day. I got bombarded with all these messages when he asked me what our maternity leave policy. And it was, quite frankly, underwhelming. So I went to my head of talent and said, we need a much more aggressive policy. It was very groundbreaking at the time. Industry-leading, 16-weeks, paid family leave for any family issue: a sick child, sick parent. But it first got rejected by our operating committee and our talent council because it was gonna cost too much. I said, “send me the spreadsheet.” Because I had been on two maternity leaves and really didn't cost the firm much other than the time I was off…it was courageous just because I had to override people who were in the know about and were more expert than I was about implementing such a policy. I just said: I know it's gonna cost a lot. However, this is the right thing to do for our people. Our turnover went down. And then years after, the firm was pretty proud that we pushed it. It was kind of a courageous decision just because we had to override the recommendation of two groups that knew a lot more than I did about the numbers. 

On Leading a Large Corporation vs. a Sports League 

Cathy: It was a big transition from scale, meaning the scale of Deloitte – a hundred thousand people. [At the WNBA], we had 12-full-time employees when I joined. So the scale was different, but the business side isn't that different. It's a big business and sports is big business and you see the valuations on the men's side being huge, multi-billions of dollars and WNBA teams valuations are going up exponentially and we're in this period of hypergrowth. That's what I was used to at Deloitte. So that part's not that different.

On the Hardest Job She’s Ever Had

Cathy: Coaching middle school girls travel basketball? Hardest job I ever had. But it was fun and inspiring. Because these young girls, some grew up to go on and play in college. And so it's pretty cool now when I see their moms, they're like, “my daughter says I was coached by the WNBA Commissioner.” Of course I wasn't that back when I coached them, but it's kind of fun.