From Capitol Hill to the NBA: Building an Inclusive Culture with Melissa Palarea
Early Career and Unexpected Turns
Barry: It's a love for the game, it's a love of what we do, it's almost an emotional connection that an organization is trying to have with the individual. Melissa, thank you for your time.
Melissa Palarea: My pleasure.
Barry: Tell us a little bit about your current role.
Melissa Palarea: So I am a strategy lead for inclusion and I work in the social impact and inclusion group at the NBA. And so my role is really about helping all of our employees feel connected, feel that they belong, feel that their voices are heard, that they're respected, and that they feel valued at the organization.
Barry: Tell us about your first job.
Melissa Palarea: As a kid I loved working. As a teenager I loved working with younger kids so I was a camp counselor. I was a Campfire Girl so they had a day camp, they had a sleepover camp and I loved being a camp counselor working with kids.
My first job out of college... I mentioned I grew up in Southern California, I went to school at UCLA, had never lived anywhere outside of Southern California and I thought I would work in the entertainment industry once I graduated from college. I did several internships in the entertainment industry working for a casting agent in television and film, worked for a talent agent and thought I would go back and do that once I graduated but I wanted to live somewhere else and experience life somewhere else outside of California just for a little bit.
So when I graduated college I did an internship in Washington DC and I ended up at my hometown congressman's office and was an intern on Capitol Hill. While I was interning, as often happens on the hill, some senior aides left, the entry-level folks moved up into the more senior positions and the entry-level positions opened up and the Chief of Staff looked at me and he said, "You want a job?" And I said okay.
I had not a lot of interest in politics. I was more there for the experience than really trying to get a job but I had nothing lined up in California, nothing to go back to, and here was a job being served up to me on a silver platter. I thought, how can I say no? So that was the first job I had. I was a legislative correspondent and tour guide for my hometown congressman Steve Horn from Long Beach California. Shout out to Steve.
Barry: The squiggly line between that first job and now... was it a squiggly line?
Melissa Palarea: For sure. I mean as I mentioned I really didn't know what I wanted to do and it took me a lot of trial and error and trying new things and figuring out if I liked it, if I was good at it, to ultimately get here and I still don't know if I figured it out.
Barry: So interesting, isn't it? You talk to so many people that they look back and reflect maybe on a particular decision they made on their career or decision that influenced a trajectory in a way they could never have foreseen. Was there a moment like that in your own career?
Melissa Palarea: Oh absolutely. Every single one is connected. I went from the congressman's office, I moved up when senior folks left, I became a legislative assistant. One of my issues was the arts and humanities. While I was doing that I met some folks at a nonprofit called Americans for the Arts, and I really enjoyed working on the arts as an issue. When they had an opportunity I moved over to that organization.
From there I met someone on the board who was the administrative head at a law firm in New York and so when I decided to move to New York he brought me in for an interview and I got a job at that law firm. Working at that law firm is how I got my foot in the door at the NBA. Everything is connected in my career, even though I didn't—and couldn't have—designed it that way.
"Everything is connected in my career, even though I didn't—and couldn't have—designed it that way."
The NBA Family & Driving Innovation
Barry: Has there ever been a period that you found challenging but ultimately, as you reflect on it, was pivotal for you?
Melissa Palarea: One that comes to mind is working my first job at the NBA. It was internal and executive communications. I was originally hired as a writer for the former commissioner David Stern and our current commissioner Adam Silver who was deputy commissioner at the time. The hiring manager saw my law firm experience and they're both former lawyers, and he made the connection of "well she worked for lawyers at a law firm, she can work for lawyers at the NBA" which was a really smart connection that he made.
Barry: As we fast forward to your current role, are there habits or practices that you've carried with you the whole time?
Melissa Palarea: Our current commissioner Adam Silver has that expectation that we are always going to be at the top of our game, that we are always going to do our best and deliver for whoever our client is. That feeling of knowing you're delivering the best for whether it's our colleagues, our fans, our partners, it's very rewarding.
Barry: Because you've been at the NBA for quite a long time, almost 18 years. And it's relatively unusual isn't it?
Melissa Palarea: It isn't at the NBA though! I mean I think a lot of my colleagues feel the same way I do about what we do, how we do it. I mean I at 18 years am probably mid-career at the NBA really. We have one colleague who we just celebrated her 40th anniversary.
Barry: Wow, 40 years in the organization? What is it that binds people there, that connects them?
Melissa Palarea: It's a love for the game, it's a love of what we do and how we do it. Commissioner Stern would always talk about the NBA family and it really is, it feels like a family. It feels like we support one another, we're there for teammates. We're always innovating, always trying new things, trying to figure out the best way to engage our fans.
Core Values: Being a "Fan of Your People"
Barry: So if there's always innovation, how do you look at the history of what's worked when you're growing at the rate that you're growing at?
Melissa Palarea: It's very much a balance of remembering what we did the last time and then figuring out what we can do better. One of the initiatives I'm leading now is to think about our values and what the behaviors are that show up.
One of our values is 'Be the Fan'. Externally that means to follow the game the way our most passionate fans do. But for my purposes internally, it's really about 'be the fan of your people'. If you're a manager, be the fan of your teammates, hype them up, recognize them, give them kudos for delivering on a project. Whatever it might be we want to celebrate their work and recognize it.
"If you're a manager, be the fan of your teammates, hype them up, recognize them, give them kudos for delivering on a project."
The Role of Data and the Hybrid Workplace
Barry: What way are you using data when it comes to your fans, and how does that translate into the internal communities?
Melissa Palarea: It's one of our top three priorities is understanding who our fans are. There is so much information out there to better understand and serve your fans and to individualize the experience to meet them where they are.
Internally, we rely heavily on our employee engagement survey to understand how employees feel about their experience. We are doing a lot of debriefs now to understand how we can make that better for them, whether they feel included, respected, valued, heard. We also started a sponsorship program for our employees at the senior director to VP level based on that data.
Barry: Has the change in workplace model globally impacted the NBA in terms of time in office versus remote work?
Melissa Palarea: Most of our employees are hybrid—four days in the office and the option to work one day somewhere else. We do have certain roles that are on-site 5 days a week, and a certain percentage that are fully remote. But for most of us, we're very much a relationship-driven organization. We are a live event business, so we do want to be together in order to connect, collaborate, and get the best out of one another. For our remote team members, we've integrated Zoom into all of our conference rooms and use Slack to ensure everybody is in on the conversation.
Managers as Culture Carriers
Barry: How do you foster that individual connection and the think, do, feel of people's day-to-day?
Melissa Palarea: I think so much of an individual's experience in an organization is dependent on who their manager is. Do they have somebody who believes in them and is encouraging them and coaching them?
We have a project really about developing managers as "culture carriers." For us that's critically important because what we've heard is we get a lot of "it depends who your manager is." By focusing on our values, we are aiming for more consistency in experience so that it doesn't matter as much who your manager is because you're going to get treated the same.
Barry: How do you help individuals in the business manage change at scale?
Melissa Palarea: Transparency. Sharing information, explaining the change, explaining the reasoning behind the change. Even if you may not agree with the change, understanding the reasoning behind it helps you align and move forward. Oftentimes information in any organization is power, right? And I think it's okay to share that power a little bit. People do better when they have more information.
"Oftentimes information in any organization is power, right? And I think it's okay to share that power a little bit. People do better when they have more information."
AI, the Future of Inclusion, and Legacy
Barry: If we think about the future and the news around AI, where do you see that in your role in let's say two years' time?
Melissa Palarea: The thing about AI from my perspective as an inclusion practitioner is you're only as good as the data that it's ingesting. And for the most part, that data was created by humans, and humans are flawed and humans have biases. How do you ensure that you're at least mitigating the bias if you're not eliminating it? AI can help us improve processes and synthesize information quickly, but I don't know that we have seen a tool yet that's going to solve the problem of mitigating human bias.
Barry: Last question in terms of the legacy of your role. You've been at the NBA for an impressive amount of time. How do you think about the legacy of what will come after you?
Melissa Palarea: I hope that the work that we're doing now is laying a solid foundation that we'll be able to build on for years to come. Getting back to consistency, it shouldn't matter if it's me in that role or someone else. We have the same values as an organization and the behavior should be consistent regardless of who's in the role.
Barry: Liz [Melissa], it's been lovely speaking to you today.
Melissa Palarea: Likewise, thank you for taking time and we got... you got dry weather, it's a win.
From Capitol Hill to the NBA: Building an Inclusive Culture with Melissa Palarea
Early Career and Unexpected Turns
Barry: It's a love for the game, it's a love of what we do, it's almost an emotional connection that an organization is trying to have with the individual. Melissa, thank you for your time.
Melissa Palarea: My pleasure.
Barry: Tell us a little bit about your current role.
Melissa Palarea: So I am a strategy lead for inclusion and I work in the social impact and inclusion group at the NBA. And so my role is really about helping all of our employees feel connected, feel that they belong, feel that their voices are heard, that they're respected, and that they feel valued at the organization.
Barry: Tell us about your first job.
Melissa Palarea: As a kid I loved working. As a teenager I loved working with younger kids so I was a camp counselor. I was a Campfire Girl so they had a day camp, they had a sleepover camp and I loved being a camp counselor working with kids.
My first job out of college... I mentioned I grew up in Southern California, I went to school at UCLA, had never lived anywhere outside of Southern California and I thought I would work in the entertainment industry once I graduated from college. I did several internships in the entertainment industry working for a casting agent in television and film, worked for a talent agent and thought I would go back and do that once I graduated but I wanted to live somewhere else and experience life somewhere else outside of California just for a little bit.
So when I graduated college I did an internship in Washington DC and I ended up at my hometown congressman's office and was an intern on Capitol Hill. While I was interning, as often happens on the hill, some senior aides left, the entry-level folks moved up into the more senior positions and the entry-level positions opened up and the Chief of Staff looked at me and he said, "You want a job?" And I said okay.
I had not a lot of interest in politics. I was more there for the experience than really trying to get a job but I had nothing lined up in California, nothing to go back to, and here was a job being served up to me on a silver platter. I thought, how can I say no? So that was the first job I had. I was a legislative correspondent and tour guide for my hometown congressman Steve Horn from Long Beach California. Shout out to Steve.
Barry: The squiggly line between that first job and now... was it a squiggly line?
Melissa Palarea: For sure. I mean as I mentioned I really didn't know what I wanted to do and it took me a lot of trial and error and trying new things and figuring out if I liked it, if I was good at it, to ultimately get here and I still don't know if I figured it out.
Barry: So interesting, isn't it? You talk to so many people that they look back and reflect maybe on a particular decision they made on their career or decision that influenced a trajectory in a way they could never have foreseen. Was there a moment like that in your own career?
Melissa Palarea: Oh absolutely. Every single one is connected. I went from the congressman's office, I moved up when senior folks left, I became a legislative assistant. One of my issues was the arts and humanities. While I was doing that I met some folks at a nonprofit called Americans for the Arts, and I really enjoyed working on the arts as an issue. When they had an opportunity I moved over to that organization.
From there I met someone on the board who was the administrative head at a law firm in New York and so when I decided to move to New York he brought me in for an interview and I got a job at that law firm. Working at that law firm is how I got my foot in the door at the NBA. Everything is connected in my career, even though I didn't—and couldn't have—designed it that way.
"Everything is connected in my career, even though I didn't—and couldn't have—designed it that way."
The NBA Family & Driving Innovation
Barry: Has there ever been a period that you found challenging but ultimately, as you reflect on it, was pivotal for you?
Melissa Palarea: One that comes to mind is working my first job at the NBA. It was internal and executive communications. I was originally hired as a writer for the former commissioner David Stern and our current commissioner Adam Silver who was deputy commissioner at the time. The hiring manager saw my law firm experience and they're both former lawyers, and he made the connection of "well she worked for lawyers at a law firm, she can work for lawyers at the NBA" which was a really smart connection that he made.
Barry: As we fast forward to your current role, are there habits or practices that you've carried with you the whole time?
Melissa Palarea: Our current commissioner Adam Silver has that expectation that we are always going to be at the top of our game, that we are always going to do our best and deliver for whoever our client is. That feeling of knowing you're delivering the best for whether it's our colleagues, our fans, our partners, it's very rewarding.
Barry: Because you've been at the NBA for quite a long time, almost 18 years. And it's relatively unusual isn't it?
Melissa Palarea: It isn't at the NBA though! I mean I think a lot of my colleagues feel the same way I do about what we do, how we do it. I mean I at 18 years am probably mid-career at the NBA really. We have one colleague who we just celebrated her 40th anniversary.
Barry: Wow, 40 years in the organization? What is it that binds people there, that connects them?
Melissa Palarea: It's a love for the game, it's a love of what we do and how we do it. Commissioner Stern would always talk about the NBA family and it really is, it feels like a family. It feels like we support one another, we're there for teammates. We're always innovating, always trying new things, trying to figure out the best way to engage our fans.
Core Values: Being a "Fan of Your People"
Barry: So if there's always innovation, how do you look at the history of what's worked when you're growing at the rate that you're growing at?
Melissa Palarea: It's very much a balance of remembering what we did the last time and then figuring out what we can do better. One of the initiatives I'm leading now is to think about our values and what the behaviors are that show up.
One of our values is 'Be the Fan'. Externally that means to follow the game the way our most passionate fans do. But for my purposes internally, it's really about 'be the fan of your people'. If you're a manager, be the fan of your teammates, hype them up, recognize them, give them kudos for delivering on a project. Whatever it might be we want to celebrate their work and recognize it.
"If you're a manager, be the fan of your teammates, hype them up, recognize them, give them kudos for delivering on a project."
The Role of Data and the Hybrid Workplace
Barry: What way are you using data when it comes to your fans, and how does that translate into the internal communities?
Melissa Palarea: It's one of our top three priorities is understanding who our fans are. There is so much information out there to better understand and serve your fans and to individualize the experience to meet them where they are.
Internally, we rely heavily on our employee engagement survey to understand how employees feel about their experience. We are doing a lot of debriefs now to understand how we can make that better for them, whether they feel included, respected, valued, heard. We also started a sponsorship program for our employees at the senior director to VP level based on that data.
Barry: Has the change in workplace model globally impacted the NBA in terms of time in office versus remote work?
Melissa Palarea: Most of our employees are hybrid—four days in the office and the option to work one day somewhere else. We do have certain roles that are on-site 5 days a week, and a certain percentage that are fully remote. But for most of us, we're very much a relationship-driven organization. We are a live event business, so we do want to be together in order to connect, collaborate, and get the best out of one another. For our remote team members, we've integrated Zoom into all of our conference rooms and use Slack to ensure everybody is in on the conversation.
Managers as Culture Carriers
Barry: How do you foster that individual connection and the think, do, feel of people's day-to-day?
Melissa Palarea: I think so much of an individual's experience in an organization is dependent on who their manager is. Do they have somebody who believes in them and is encouraging them and coaching them?
We have a project really about developing managers as "culture carriers." For us that's critically important because what we've heard is we get a lot of "it depends who your manager is." By focusing on our values, we are aiming for more consistency in experience so that it doesn't matter as much who your manager is because you're going to get treated the same.
Barry: How do you help individuals in the business manage change at scale?
Melissa Palarea: Transparency. Sharing information, explaining the change, explaining the reasoning behind the change. Even if you may not agree with the change, understanding the reasoning behind it helps you align and move forward. Oftentimes information in any organization is power, right? And I think it's okay to share that power a little bit. People do better when they have more information.
"Oftentimes information in any organization is power, right? And I think it's okay to share that power a little bit. People do better when they have more information."
AI, the Future of Inclusion, and Legacy
Barry: If we think about the future and the news around AI, where do you see that in your role in let's say two years' time?
Melissa Palarea: The thing about AI from my perspective as an inclusion practitioner is you're only as good as the data that it's ingesting. And for the most part, that data was created by humans, and humans are flawed and humans have biases. How do you ensure that you're at least mitigating the bias if you're not eliminating it? AI can help us improve processes and synthesize information quickly, but I don't know that we have seen a tool yet that's going to solve the problem of mitigating human bias.
Barry: Last question in terms of the legacy of your role. You've been at the NBA for an impressive amount of time. How do you think about the legacy of what will come after you?
Melissa Palarea: I hope that the work that we're doing now is laying a solid foundation that we'll be able to build on for years to come. Getting back to consistency, it shouldn't matter if it's me in that role or someone else. We have the same values as an organization and the behavior should be consistent regardless of who's in the role.
Barry: Liz [Melissa], it's been lovely speaking to you today.
Melissa Palarea: Likewise, thank you for taking time and we got... you got dry weather, it's a win.
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