Power of Passion: In the Sports Management Suite the Present is Female | Kate Madigan | TEDxBoston

so my first year in the nhl i was gifted

a name plate i read the future is female

that was five years ago

i think it's time we start changing the

narrative

i think you guys heard all these talks

today we're here

the present is female

let me tell you a little bit about my

present so i'm currently the executive

director of hockey management and

operations for the new jersey devils

what does that mean very long title

i am the right-hand executive to the

general manager and depending on the

time of year could be working on a

multitude of projects could be the draft

could be

trades free agency team services culture

setting

constantly in and out of the locker i'm

working with injuries player

transactions so i touch a little bit of

everything

this was me on my

draft last year 2021 putting in the

first round pick to the league

the draft normally lasts about four

hours each day second day was eight

hours long so i actually joke i was

probably calling dominos because i was

starving

and apparently i'm on the phone a lot

i also previously before this worked in

amateur and pro scouting operations and

even did a stint as part of the video

coaching

in the locker room with coaches during

games doing the replay

with any journey this is where i am now

but how did i get here there's a start

right there's a path

my journey started when i was six years

old

this is my sister and i watching the

bean pot as we have done every year

wearing my dad's jerseys rooting for

northeastern i think you can see in this

photo the awe and passion i have from

such a young age

fast forward to when i was 16

continued with my passion

so in 2008 my mother was diagnosed with

breast cancer i'm proud to say she's

sitting in the back praying i don't

faint up here

but my dad was a scout for the

pittsburgh penguins

so through staying home with my mom with

surgeries and things of that nature i

threw myself into the game

every night weekends we would watch

every single pittsburgh penguins games

i knew every player and every stat it

was a bit obsessive on this team but

this is where i really started to love

the game

so like most 16 year olds i decided i

want to be a general manager in the

national hockey league

for me why i decided this was i realized

that sports at a young age

provided me opportunity sports are

entertainment right but they provide

hope they provide an outlet and what the

pittsburgh penguins gave to me that they

didn't even realize i wanted to give to

someone else

i wanted to help people through things

when they may not when others may not

know about that

i think what i told people at 16 i

wanted to be a general manager in the

national hockey league they thought

really like probably have a better

chance becoming an astronaut or the

president of the united states than a

female general manager in the national

hockey league but

my sights were set and i'm pretty

stubborn worving so we started from

there

so at 16 years old i decided i want to

be a general manager i didn't take

action until i was 26

and that's a long time to wait i quit on

my job before i even started and a lot

of that was due to the lack of

visibility of women in roles in any

sports leagues at that point in 2008.

so i kind of just went through the

motions went to college picked a safe

major in accounting right there's always

an accountant somewhere

and i really just i sat back on my heels

until 2017 my family really pushed me

and they said you need to do this now or

never so i got an entry level job at the

new jersey devils the rest is history

here i am today

thank you

most people want new responsibilities

right the new title

the new responsibilities the new salary

right you want to climb that corporate

ladder quickly

for me i did but it came with some

struggles in all honesty there's some

things that i had to get over i know

some days even today i still have

imposter syndrome where i don't feel

like i belong i don't feel like i'm

qualified

and i think that stems from being so

different than my counterparts

most men

in leadership roles in sports are indeed

men

and they played the game so i'm a female

under 30 never played hockey so when i

look around i'm like how do i fit in can

i do this and i started discrediting

myself very early

this photo here is of our golf outing

this year and i don't golf but i did a

great job using a little cart

and this photo makes up all players on

our team coaches and management as you

can see i'm the one right in front being

5-2 it's nice i'm always in the front

row

for me i give the devils a lot of credit

because they made me the one in this

photo not to check the box i want to be

very clear because they found value in

what i did

and they found value in my different

experiences

sports leagues in general now more than

ever are given a chance

where women are creating different roles

there's women in hockey now that are

scouts broadcasters

hockey finance administration player

development so many roles

so hockey

believes in women and the devils believe

in me

why can't i believe in myself what am i

missing

so

before triumph there's always

tribulations right there's always

challenges i had three things i had to

get over

and it's very easy

in theory in practice it was hard for me

i had to gain confidence i needed to

find my voice and i had to get over the

preconceived notion that i needed to

have played hockey to be qualified so

first confidence

to be a woman in a male dominated

industry you need confidence point blank

this was hard for me this wasn't

intrinsic i'm not gonna lie confidence

for me was built on others believing in

me male allies believing in me giving me

opportunities outside of my normal job

description so i could grow the more i

saw things the more knowledge i gained

the less nervous i got the more

confidence i got for me confidence came

through comfortability

i also stopped being the no worries

woman now when i say that that's not

like the hakuna matata in me and

snowboarders

that for me was when i would ask for

something i always gave an out it would

go hey tom wondering if i could sit in

that meeting but no worries if not i

know the room's really tight but i

really think i could provide value and

it would help me with my project but

again don't want to push

and i had no idea i was doing this my

boss pulled me aside at the time

he said why are you giving me the option

why don't you just ask for what you want

when you start putting doubt in my head

and give me the option of saying no it's

easy it's easy for me to say no just

point blank hey can i do this and i

think a lot of women do this we're

scared to ask for what we want and we

just need to do it

i also had to find my voice

for me this was very hard and even to

this day very hard

my first year on the roads with my third

year in the new jersey devils

i was approaching the bus after a game

we will say it was a win

we won that night

and how it's set up is players and

executives are on one bus media's on the

second bus

so i'm approaching the bus about to step

on and the bus driver says ma'am which i

think i was 27 at the time definitely

wasn't a man but

and he said media's on the second bus i

said okay

and i actually got on the wrong bus

i think that shows just how little of a

voice i had if i can't tell the bus

driver i belong how can i tell myself or

anyone else i belong

through gaining confidence and finding

my voice i realized all these little

things were happening where hey you

can't go in the locker i might show my

credential then i'd be allowed in

through these little instances i

realized if i don't advocate for myself

who's going to advocate for me people

just don't think i belong i need to tell

them i do

i stopped using my experiences as

negatives and started using them as

positives

so a very different background have an

account a masters in accounting was a

division one hurdler i'm a female so i'm

a sister i'm a friend

fluent in french all these experiences

are different than the men that are at

the devil's executive table once i

started using those experiences as

positives

it really allowed me to make decisions

better day-to-day implement procedures

and processes

and this is where i think i've gained

value and credibility in the new jersey

devils is i come with different ideas

so i started using my experiences as

ammunition

the third thing i had to get over

was that i didn't play the game no sun

cost never gonna play the game probably

not gonna happen

so i gained confidence and i gained my

voice

but i didn't play

well

this isn't a requirement anymore

look at greg popovich kim ing amazing

coaches managers never played

professionally

i started realizing that

the boxes to check to be in management

or a coach are different than they were

before i don't need to have played 10

years in the national hockey league

there's other boxes that i do check

are passionate

can i communicate

am i organized

myself starter

my leader

do i have a vision and a strategy

can i put people in the right places for

the culture that i want at the new

jersey devils

started seeing yes i can do this yes i

can do this

that's way more important than the zero

nhl games i've never played

women now than ever are looked at

differently given a chance given a

chance they have earned and deserved

and it took me a while to get into

sports through the lack of visibility

of females in any roles in that in the

executives in

sports hockey basketball football back

in 2008

my hope is that the next generation sees

women in these roles that the glass

would have been shattered by the time

it's ready for them

and believe me i know the generation

before me said this as well

but i can just be hopeful that the work

that's been done in the last two to

three years the momentum continues

the more we see it the more we can be it

and that's what i hope that

teams just provide opportunities

it can be scary starting a new industry

being different than your co-workers or

starting a path from scratch as i had to

do

but when you let go of fear you see what

you're truly capable of doing

and i started asking for what i want my

long-term goal is to be a general

manager in the national hockey league

but i also want to have an impact on the

changing landscape in the nhl

i know i'm on the right path for me

everyone's path is different

changing point my journey was finding

confidence in my voice to allow me to be

my authentic self and unlock endless

possibilities

so i just challenge everyone don't be

afraid to break the mold

don't quit your dream job before you

even start

thank you