An NBA Team Has Been Following Your Career for 13 Years: The Phillip McKibbins Story (Part 1 of 7)

Thirteen years after telling NBA Commissioner David Stern his ideas were crap — an NBA team called to say they had been watching his career ever since.

In Part 1 of 7 of the Leadership Sovereignty Podcast's Speaking Truth to Power series, host Ralph Owens and co-host Terry Baylor welcome Phillip Gregory McKibbins — CTO and Chief Innovation Officer of the Dallas Mavericks. Over 30 years, Phillip has worked at Sony Pictures, the Walt Disney Company, ESPN, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and now the NBA. But none of it started with a blueprint. It started with a young technologist in a meeting with the most powerful man in basketball — who refused to stay silent.

Phillip recounts the moment he told Commissioner David Stern that everything the NBA was doing with its draft combine was crap, how he spent the next three years rebuilding it, and how 13 years later that moment of courage became the reason the Dallas Mavericks came calling. This is the episode that sets the stage for one of the most powerful seven-part series in the show's history.

What you will learn in this episode:
- How one moment of courage in a meeting with David Stern changed the trajectory of Phillip's career
- Why the NBA tracked his career for 13 years before making the call
- How Phillip went from emerging technology at ESPN to CTO of an NBA franchise
- Why Aaron LaBerge called Phillip "the technology whisperer" — and what it means for your career
- How to position yourself as someone who understands the business, not just the technology

This episode is for you if:
- You are a technology professional who wants to reach the C-suite
- You have ever been in a room where everyone was silent — and you had something to say
- You want to hear a real-world story of what patience, courage, and consistency produce over time
- You are ready to be inspired by a 30-year career built on speaking truth to power

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👤View Phillip McKibbins' guest profile, resources, and contact information

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Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Excitement for the Episode

14:12 The Evolution of Becoming a Leader

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📄 Full Episode Transcript
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