We Are the Leaders: Issue # 14, Cynt Marshall

by BREAKTHRU Team

February 6th, 2026

Dear Leaders,

Last year, I found myself in a room in Dallas, listening to one of my leadership icons, Cynt Marshall. I had seen her speak before, but what struck me again in person was how grounded she was. There was nothing performative about her presence. Just a steadiness that comes from knowing what it means to stand alone—and still choose to bring others with you.

Cynt Marshall is a Champion.

In the BREAKTHRU framework, Champions are motivated by understanding. They are inclusive leaders who prioritize truly comprehending the perspectives of others—especially those who are most often overlooked. Champions amplify voices, make people feel valued, and create the conditions for trust, engagement, and belonging.

And their greatest fear is exclusion.

For Cynt, that fear has never been abstract.

She was raised in Richmond, California, after her family moved from Birmingham, Alabama when she was an infant. She grew up in public housing, in a family struggling to make ends meet, learning early what it meant to be unseen—and what it cost when people were excluded from safety, opportunity, or dignity. Her mother, an educator, grounded her in both discipline and faith, putting “a math book in one hand and the Bible in the other.” Understanding and belief were not ideals. They were survival.

In her book, You’ve Been Chosen, Cynt writes not about authority, but responsibility—the responsibility that shows up when you see what others miss.

“When you see something that needs to be fixed and you’re in a position to help,” she writes, “that’s not an accident. That’s a calling.”

Her words resonate because they sound like everyday life. Like parenting. Like teamwork. Like choosing to listen before reacting. Like deciding whether to speak up so someone else doesn’t disappear.

This Week’s Reflection: Cynt Marshall

Cynt learned those lessons early. Growing up rooted in faith and service, she also learned what it meant to be both visible and invisible. At UC Berkeley, she became the first and only Black cheerleader. It wasn’t symbolic—it was isolating. It meant being watched closely and supported quietly. It meant learning how to stay open without becoming hardened, and how to listen even when she wasn’t being heard.

That lesson never left her.

As I’ve reflected on Cynt’s story, I can’t shake the feeling that Black women like her have been here all along—doing the work of inclusion before organizations had language for it. Holding people, families, and communities together. Making space for voices that might otherwise be ignored. Building strategies for belonging in systems that were never designed with them in mind.

If anything, we should be learning more from leaders who know how to unite people precisely because they’ve lived on the margins of being excluded.

Cynt’s Champion leadership is shaped by that reality.

In the SLE®, each Leadership Type is influenced by two others. In Cynt’s case, those influences are the Protector and the Pathfinder.

The Protector shows up in the way she speaks about motherhood—advocating fiercely for her children as a Black woman in America and refusing to outsource their dignity. It’s the part of her leadership that ensures people feel safe, seen, and respected.

The Pathfinder shows up in how she leads without a roadmap. Over 36 years at AT&T, she learned how to move institutions forward by listening deeply, valuing diverse input, and involving others in decisions that affected them. Pathfinders build trust by walking with people, not ahead of them.

That combination mattered when she became the first Black female CEO in NBA history, stepping into the Dallas Mavericks amid scandal and cultural collapse. Many leaders would have focused on optics. Cynt focused on understanding.

In Dallas, she talked about so many moments that led to her success and each one was so personal and human. She listened. She involved people. She made culture measurable by making voices count. She rebuilt trust by ensuring perspectives were heard and respected—not because it was easy or comfortable, but because exclusion was not an option.

Cynt Marshall is featured in Leadership Types because she shows us what Champion leadership looks like when it’s fully integrated—understanding, inclusion, protection, and forward movement working together.

She amplifies voices.
She ensures people feel valued.
She listens with intention and leads with care.

From Reflection to Action

As you move through this week, notice leadership not in titles, but in moments of inclusion, when a parent advocates for their child, when a colleague makes space for a quieter voice, when you pause long enough to truly listen.

Champion leadership begins with understanding.

And Cynt reminds us that many of the leaders best equipped to unite us have been practicing this kind of leadership all along, not because it was recognized, but because exclusion was never an acceptable outcome.

Champion leadership isn’t reserved for extraordinary moments. It’s built in everyday acts of listening, inclusion, and care.