In-Depth
Voices of Diversity: Kim Stone
Executive Vice President and General Manager, Miami Heat and AmericanAirlines Arena
David Alvarez / Miami Heat
Define diversity to you; why is it important? It means the composition of your staff, at all levels, and contains people of diverse gender, race, lifestyle, experience and opinions. It’s vital because innovation and achieving better results come from examining problems from different perspectives. That happens if diverse people are at the tabl participating in those discussions.
Your opportunities in sports: I have grown up with the Heat, working here for 22 years, and having held eight different positions. Eric Woolworth, our president, is incredibly supportive and views me as an executive and not as a woman executive or a gay executive. He gives me opportunities based on my competence, leadership and work ethic.
Call to action for sports: Every sports executive should mentor a junior-level staffer from a diverse background for at least a year. Over the course of a few years, the industrywide impact that would make would be amazing. It would lead to more diversity in the C-Suite.
